Broken Dragon
by digemsmack
Summary: What if Fairy Tail wasn't attacked before Natsu and the rest returned from Galuna Island, will it turn out like it did before? It's amazing how just one little change can cause a once great mage to do things that he never would have dreamed of doing before, but that was a completely different life as far as Natsu is concerned. Darker and Smarter Natsu, Disclaimer I do not own Fairy
1. Kicked Out

Ch 1: Kicked Out

"Why are you smiling Natsu?" asked Lucy as they exited the train station.

"Why wouldn't I be smiling Lucy, we just completed our first S-Class quest which really wasn't that hard since it only required us breaking that thing in the sky. Everything else wasn't even part of our job and was a pleasant bonus." he replied with his usual grin.

"Yeah Lucy, and even though we didn't get any of the jewels you at least got that new key of yours." stated Happy as he floated in between the two of them.

"Aren't the two of you concerned about getting kicked out?" asked Lucy since she couldn't stop thinking about that after being told it could be their punishment for doing this job. And that was the last thing she wanted since she felt like she was just getting used to Fairy Tail and could actually see herself being a member there for the rest of her life.

"No way Lucy, Gramps wouldn't do something like that. Especially since we completed it like pros all on our own. I wouldn't be surprised if he promoted me after this." replied Natsu without a care in the world.

"All by yourself you say?" asked Erza as she glared at him, which caused him to start shaking in fear.

"With your help of course Erza, but I am pretty sure we would have been fine without you." he answered nervously.

"I really don't think so Natsu, and you'll be lucky if Master only does **THAT** to you after what you did." said Erza as she continued to glare at him.

"Anything but **THAT**." begged Natsu as he kneeled before Erza, hoping that she could get him out of this.

"Sorry Natsu but whatever the Master decides to do with you is all your fault and I won't be bailing you out. You knew the rules and decided to disregard them and even decided to drag Lucy and Grey along with you." stated Erza, completely unaffected by Natsu groveling at her feet.

"Quit being a big baby Flame Brain and accept your punishment like a man. Oh and don't worry I plan on recording it so I can watch it over and over again later on." said Grey with a smug grin.

"Grey I don't know why you are grinning about since you are almost just as bad as Natsu in all of this and will probably get the same punishment as him." said Erza with a completely serious face as Grey's turned to one of complete horror.

"Are you kidding me Erza, this idiot kidnapped me which made it so that I had to help him out with the job so he didn't make the guild look bad." argued Grey.

"You never should have let him kidnap you Grey, and you obviously didn't try too hard to bring him back." she countered while giving him a glare that caused the ice mage to gulp in fear.

"Do you really think Master will do **THAT** to us?" asked Grey who was now just as terrified as Natsu.

"That's what I would do if I was Master, and unfortunately for you Lucy. You'll probably get the same punishment even though you're still new to the guild and didn't know any better." said Erza with a frown.

"What are you guys even talking about, I have no idea what **THAT** is? But I can clearly see that I really don't want to know." replied Lucy with a scared look in her eyes as she looked at Natsu and Grey still freaking out about the punishment.

"You really don't want to know, and since this was mainly Natsu's fault I will see if Master will go easy on you." said Erza with a slight smile.

"What the hell Erza, why are you going to help Lucy?" shouted Natsu, forgetting who he was shouting at. But he soon remembered as an iron fist sent his head into the ground, which caused the street to gain a few new cracks.

"I am helping Lucy because this was all your doing Natsu. And don't shout at me like that ever again." declared Erza as she glared at him.

"Sorry Erza." mumbled Natsu as he picked himself up and followed them the rest of the way to the guild without saying another word. But as soon as he could hear the usual sounds of the guild Natsu was back to his normal self and took off for the guild and instantly joined in on the brawl that was happening.

"And just like that he's back to his old self, completely forgetting that he's still in trouble." stated Erza with a faint grin.

"Well that's Natsu for you." replied Happy with a smile as he took off and chased after his father figure.

"You mean an idiot." mumbled Grey with a grin.

"What was that Grey?" asked Erza in a threatening manner.

"Nothing." denied Grey quickly as he headed towards the guild at a faster pace.

"Please Erza, I need to know what **THAT** is so I can prepare myself for it." begged Lucy.

"Calm down Lucy, Master only uses **THAT** on the men of our guild. He knows that we wouldn't allow him to do anything so cruel to any of the female members." said Erza as they followed Grey into the guild.

"Then why didn't you say that when the guys were still with us?" asked Lucy as she watched the guild fight with each other like it was any other day. Natsu and Grey were already fighting each other about something that was obviously stupid, both of them forgetting about the fact that they were in trouble.

"I thought it would be nice if they thought you weren't getting any special treatment." answered Erza as Mira gave her a slice of strawberry cheesecake.

"So how did the retrieval go Erza, from what I can see no one got hurt?" asked Mira as she watched Grey and Natsu punch each other as hard as they could.

"We completed the mission and even stopped a cult from reviving a demon of some sort. But according to Natsu the demon was already dead so the cult was doomed to fail from the beginning." answered Erza as she started to eat her cake with a content smile making its way across her face.

"Sounds like it was a lot of fun." stated Mira with a bright smile.

"I definitely wouldn't call what happened to us fun." said Lucy after letting out a loud sigh and taking a seat next to Erza.

"Oh and why is that Lucy?" asked Mira. Who was then informed by Lucy in vivid detail about everything that happened during their last job. And by the end of it half of the guild was listening to her story, which also included Master Makarov who now had a frown on his face.

"That was quite the story Lucy, it's almost as if I was actually there." stated Makarov as he got up from his sitting position on the bar and stretched out his back.

"Thanks Master, I am just really good with my… Master?" replied Lucy who only just then realized that he was there the whole time and that she was also in trouble.

"Yes and after hearing all of that it's time to deal with the other trouble makers. Natsu, Happy and Grey please come here this instant." said Makarov with heavy frown on his face.

"Yes Master?" asked Grey as he came up to them.

"Aye Sir?" asked Natsu and Happy as they stood straight as a board in front of Makarov.

"First off I would like to say that I am extremely glad to see that all of you returned safe and sound. But because of what you all did I now have to hand out the appropriate punishments for your crimes." stated Makarov still frowning at them.

"Come on Gramps, there's no need for that since we're all alright like you just said." said Natsu with his usual grin.

"Sorry Natsu but this time I can't let it slide." replied Makarov in a harsh tone.

"Why not Gramps, we can clearly handle ourselves and I don't see how this is any different than what we usually do with the Council's rules?" asked Natsu with a confused look on his face.

"But what if you didn't all come back to us Natsu?" asked Makarov in a deep tone that sounded a little angry.

"It didn't though Gramps, and I wasn't going to let anything bad happen while I was there." he stated confidently.

"You can't be certain of that Natsu." argued Makarov.

"Yes I can gramps, and I just proved it by doing that S-Class job." declared Natsu as he glared at his master.

"No you can't Natsu, and you got extremely lucky that noting seriously bad happened to any of you. We were all dreading that another incident like the one that happened two years ago might have happened again, which is why I made those new rules regarding S-Class jobs." said Makarov as he glared right back at the dragon slayer.

"But none of that happened Gramps." argued Natsu.

"Enough Natsu, I don't want to argue with you about this since you clearly went against the rules of the guild on this. And to make matters worse you drug Lucy and Grey along with you and could have gotten them killed. Stop right there Natsu, let me deal out the punishments and then you can say what you want to afterwards." said Makarov with an upset expression on his face.

"Fine Gramps." he mumbled back with a frown.

"Lucy since you are new and didn't know how serious this all was your punishment will be working at the guild for two weeks as a barmaid without pay." said Makarov as he turned to look at the blond.

"Thank you Master." replied Lucy with a smile since it wasn't that bad of a punishment compared to **THAT** , which she still had no idea what it actually was and didn't want to since she wasn't going to be punished with it.

"Grey and Happy, you two will receive **THAT** as your punishment tomorrow morning." stated Makarov with a frown as he looked between the two of them.

"Yes Master." replied Grey with a scared expression.

"Aye Sir." replied Happy and was visibly shaking.

"That just leaves you Natsu." said Makarov with a sad look in his eyes as he looked at said mage.

"So what's it going to be Gramps?" asked Natsu nervously, knowing that it was at least going to be **THAT** and probably more.

"Natsu I have always seen all of you as my own children, which goes double for you since you've always been causing me trouble since you first joined. But this time you've gone too far and could have caused the death of your fellow members, because of this you are here by expelled from Fairy Tail. You can no longer wear our emblem or come to the guild hall at all, and I think it would be for the best if you left Magnolia while you're at it." replied Makarov with a sad expression that was also angry at the same time.

Needless to say the whole guild became completely quite at hearing this. All of them were wondering if this was actually happening since after hearing the other's punishment they just assumed Natsu would just be punished a little more severely than Gray and Happy. But none of them expected for him to be expelled from the guild even though that was supposed to be the consequences for what he did.

"Okay Gramps that was a good joke, so what's my real punishment?" asked Natsu after chuckling to himself in a scared manner.

"I'm not joking Natsu, and you knew that this was going to happen when you decided to take that job." stated Makarov as he looked at him straight in the eyes.

"Like hell I did Gramps, I just thought it was another one of your stupid rules like not letting non S-Class mages to the second level!" shouted Natsu.

"None of my rules are stupid and that rule was made to prevent something exactly like this from happening Natsu. You have until midnight to say your goodbyes and leave the guild." said Makarov who hated to see him like this.

"Gramps you can't do this, Fairy Tail is all that I have." begged Natsu with a sad expression now on his face.

"Sorry Natsu but we have rules for a reason." replied Makarov with a stern look, but on the inside he felt like complete shit for having to do this to Natsu of all people.

"But we're family Gramps." he said quietly with his head down.

"And because of that this is hurting me just as much as you Natsu. But as I have said plenty of times before, your actions not only endangered yourself but that of three other members." said Makarov with a sad frown as Natsu continued to look at the floor not saying anything.

"But I was the one to grab the job request." stated Happy, who was the first one to break from the shock of what they all just heard.

"Happy you were only doing what Natsu told you to do and don't even try to deny that all of this was his idea." said Makarov with a glare sent at the Exceed.

"Master I think this is a little extreme, and I could have stopped him if I tried harder." said Grey, not wanting to know what it would be like if his rival was no longer a member of Fairy Tail.

"Sorry Grey but even if that's true it doesn't change what Natsu did." stated Makarov who couldn't help but feel proud that Grey was actually trying to help Natsu out in his current predicament.

"Sorry Master but I have to agree with Grey on this being too much since nothing bad happened. Couldn't you just do **THAT** to him twice, I am confident that Natsu will never do something as stupid as this ever again if he has to go through that twice?" asked Erza. Even though Natsu was the cause of most of her headaches he was also the only one that could actually make her smile and even laugh, which was something she knew she needed to do more often.

"Erza when has he ever learned from receiving physical punishment?" he asked with a serious expression.

"He never has." mumbled Erza with a frown since she didn't want to admit it.

"And because of that this is my only option, otherwise he might do it again and next time we won't be lucky enough to not suffer any casualties." he stated with a sad look in his eyes as he remembered what happened to Lisanna. He was about to say something when all of a sudden a large amount of magical energy was coming from Natsu, who was now covered with orange flames that seemed to be darker than they usually were.

"So there's nothing I can say to get you to change your mind Gramps?" asked Natsu while still not looking up from the floor and everyone backed away form him.

"Sorry Natsu but there isn't and destroying the guild won't solve anything but hurt your family more than you already are." stated Makarov as he got ready to cast a protective spell to stop him.

"That's funny since I haven't done anything but protect everyone here and made sure that everyone was having a good time. You are the one that is hurting them by kicking me out of the guild over something as stupid as completing an S-Class job." stated Natsu as his flames visibly got darker.

"That may be true Natsu but if this prevents someone dying from your childish behavior and antics then it's worth it in my book." replied Makarov, who didn't know how much more of this he could handle. He flinched when Natsu finally started to move, but rather than attacking like he thought he might do. All of Natsu's fire collected to his left hand that he then brought to his left shoulder and held there while a sizzling sound started to come from it.

"If this is what a family is like, then I should have never tried to have one here. Especially if you are willing to kick a member out of it after they only did something that you should have been proud of them for completing." said Natsu and then removed his hand after finishing, which showed the guild that he burned off his emblem.

"Natsu…" said Makarov but was cut off.

"Shut the hell up Makarov, you've already made it clear that I am no longer welcomed here. Or did you just want to spew more bullshit saying that you don't want to do this and how it hurts you just as much, which if that was actually the case then you don't have to do this since you are the master for crying out loud? Or did you just want to make this even harder on me since you are forcing me to leave the few people that I care about and still consider family in this world?" shouted Natsu as he glared at Makarov with a look that he only ever used on his enemies.

"Natsu I wasn't going…" he started but was once again cut off.

"Scratch that, I don't want to hear anything from the likes of you Makarov. Who is nothing but a hypocrite, always calming that this guild is a family, but then goes and does something like this. Well I guess I should be heading out since this is no longer my home or family." stated Natsu angrily, shocking everyone there as he turned away from Makarov and headed towards the exit.

"Natsu just wait a minute we can fix all of this." said Erza as she grabbed his shoulder and stopped him in his tracks.

"Let go of me Scarlet otherwise you'll regret it." growled Natsu, once again shocking everyone since he never talked back to Erza.

"What did you just say Natsu?" asked Erza in a deadly tone as she glared at the back of his head.

"I said let go of me Scarlet otherwise you'll feel my wrath since you are no longer my family like you were before." he growled back as the temperature in the guild rose to the point where some of the members were now sweating.

"That's what I thought you said Natsu, and what did you mean we aren't family anymore?" asked Erza with a frown on her face after hearing him say that out loud to her.

"I am no longer a member of your stupid little family anymore or did you zone out for the last few minutes, oh and let go of me right now. That's the last warning any of you are going to receive from me." he said in a deep and gravelly voice.

"Natsu I am not just going to let you walk away when this can still be fixed." replied Erza. The next second everyone watched as Natsu effortlessly flipped her over his shoulder using the hand she had on his shoulder. But before she connected with the floor a flaming foot impacted with her breastplate and launched her into one of the walls of the guild. She then fell to the floor on her head, while her breastplate shattered into little pieces that were then scattered around her as she wheezed out in pain.

"I warned you Scarlet, and if you couldn't tell I have always been holding back while at the guild since we were family. But that is no longer the case thanks to Makarov and I am willing to show anyone else what I am actually capable of." said Natsu with a sinister grin as he looked at Erza who was trying to get up but was in too much pain to get off of the floor. Most likely due to the few broken ribs she just got from taking one of Natsu's kicks at full power.

"NATSU!" bellowed Makarov as he started to grow into his giant form.

"What Makarov, I was only trying to leave but she wouldn't let me and I even warned her three different times?" asked Natsu as he looked at Makarov with nothing but hatred.

"SHE WAS ONLY TRYING TO HELP YOU NATSU AND IS THAT HOW YOU TREAT A FAMILY MEMBER DOING SOMETHING LIKE THAT?" asked Makarov as he glared at him.

"HAHAHAHA no it isn't Makarov and you know exactly how I treat my family and that I would happily die for them. But you're the one that kicked me out of this little thing you are trying to call a family, and we both know that no matter what she tried to do you weren't going to change your mind on this. And why the hell are you angry Makarov, did you really think you could kick me out and I would still teat everyone from the guild like I did before?" asked Natsu with a smirk.

"No I didn't Natsu, but I didn't think you would attack any of us like that." stated Makarov as he returned to his normal size.

"That wasn't me attacking Makarov, especially since she's still able to get up on her own. And all I was trying to do was leave this place so I can move on with my life and hopefully never see any of you again. Oh and Grey I hope you recorded all of this like you wanted since who knows if you'll ever see me again." said Natsu who then turned away from Makarov and once again started to make his way towards the guild's exit.

"N-natsu?" asked Happy who was already in tears. And that was all it took for Natsu to stop in his tracks now regretting some of the things that he said in his fit of rage.

"Happy you know I never meant any of that towards you." replied Natsu while still having his back to his best friend.

"I know that, but what about some of the others?" asked Happy after wiping away a few tears and sniffling every now and then.

"There are a few others that I didn't mean to say that to." stated Natsu in a sad tone.

"Good, so where are we going?" asked Happy with a smile as he landed on his right shoulder.

"Happy you don't need to come with me since you didn't get kicked out and can still stay here." he stated with a sad smile as he looked at his little buddy.

"He's right Happy, you are still welcomed here." stated Makarov.

"No I am not Makarov; as soon as you kicked Natsu out you kicked me out too. There is no way I am going to let Natsu out of my sight after what happened to Lisanna when I did that." shouted Happy as he glared at the old man with a look that actually scared most of the guild.

"You've already made up your mind haven't you?" asked Natsu with a slight smile.

"Aye Sir!" cheered Happy with a bright smile that looked odd given the circumstances.

"We definitely picked the correct name for you." stated Natsu while shaking his head.

"Why are you saying that now?" asked Happy with a confused look.

"Only you could smile like that while being kicked out of what you thought was your family." he answered with a sad chuckle.

"Well that's because even if we aren't part of the guild anymore that doesn't mean they still aren't our family. Except for someone who I'll never see as part of my family again." stated Happy which caused most of the guild to have a slight smile. But didn't last when he said that last part and looked at Makarov with disgust and hatred in his eyes.

"When the hell did you get so smart?" he asked his best friend that somehow was actually making him smile right now.

"I've always been this smart Natsu, you were just too stupid to realize it." replied the Exceed with a smug grin.

"Hey, and I was meaning all of this stuff about family." he clarified as he sent Happy a little glare.

"Lisanna was the one to explain all of this to me." replied Happy with a frown.

"She was a great mother to you, much better than the father that I have been trying to be. I mean just look at me, I even got you kicked out of Fairy Tail along with me." stated Natsu with a sad look on his face.

"You are the best father ever Natsu and you didn't get me kicked out I quit. They are completely different, you didn't have a choice in the matter while I on the other hand decided I didn't want to be at a place where they get rid of their family so easily." said Happy with smirk that was only gone for a second when he sent another glare to Makarov.

"HAHAHAHA you are already better than me buddy. So what do you say about us ditching this place and go have some fun were we don't have to worry about being yelled at?" he asked with one of his usual grins.

"Aye Sir, but can we get some fish first?" asked Happy with big eyes, that Natsu could never say no to.

"Of course we can." stated Natsu as he and Happy exited the guild.

"Damn, I was completely wrong about him." said a voice from as soon as the two were gone and it came from the second level that was revealed to be coming from Laxus. Who was leaning against the railing with a big smirk on his face.

"What do you mean by that Laxus and why are you grinning like that?" asked Mira in an angry tone as she glared up at Laxus. She was extremely angry right now since she just lost two people that she considered to be in her immediate family after everything that happened before all of this. And Laxus was partially to blame for all of this since right now since he didn't stop Happy from taking the job flyer that started all of this mess, while also being the most likely cause for Natsu trying to prove himself to the guild.

"Oh is the demon finally going to make a return after losing two more of her precious little family, or are you even going to become weaker after all of this?" asked Laxus still smirking at them.

"You fucking bastard!" shouted Mira as she tried to go to the second level and wipe that smirk off of his face. But couldn't move thanks to Elfman holding her back while telling her that Laxus wasn't worth her time and other things to try and calm her down.

"Laxus if you are only going to make things worse than please just remain quite." stated Makarov as he glared at his grandson.

"No I am pretty sure you are doing a good enough job in that department by yourself Gramps." replied Laxus, using what Natsu usually calls him since he knew it would hurt. And just like he thought he could see Makarov flinch at the word coming from him and could also see the pain that he was trying to hide from the rest of the guild.

"Don't speak ill of our Master!" shouted Erza who was finally able to stand on her own.

"That's rich coming from someone who just got their ass handed to them." stated Laxus with a smirk since all of this was amusing to him. And after what he just witnessed from Natsu, it actually made his plans for the future easier as long as he and the old man didn't return before everything was ready.

"He just surprised me." she argued.

"You can keep telling yourself that Erza, but we both know that if you fought him again it would end with your defeat again." replied Laxus as he watched a frown spread across her face.

"Like hell that would happen again Laxus, there is no way Fire Breath is stronger than Erza!" shouted Grey as he glared at the lightning mage.

"HAHAHAHAHA man Grey you are nowhere near the level of an S-Class mage if you couldn't see the difference in Natsu when he left from what he usually shows us." chuckled Laxus as he looked down at the confused faces on most of the guild members.

"What the fuck are you talking about Laxus?" asked Grey who wanted nothing more than to go up there and hit him in the face.

"Why don't you ask Gramps, oh and I am surprised that you actually kicked him out Gramps." replied Laxus who was purposely using Gramps as much as possible to annoy Makarov.

"Isn't that what you were hoping for Laxus?" Makarov asked back.

"I would be lying if I didn't say I wanted you to take your position more seriously. But to do it to Natsu of all people is still a shock to me since I also found him entertaining most of the time. And after seeing what he just did to Erza I'd say he probably should have been an S-Class mage a long time ago if he didn't always try to make everyone else happy. I did warn him that he wasn't going to get anything for always doing that, and it seems like I was completely correct on that. Rather than being put into his appropriate level he was kicked out of the guild that he loved almost as much as that dragon he's always looking for." answered Laxus while still grinning at them.

"Okay what the hell is going on here Master?" asked Grey who along with everyone else was surprised by what Laxus just said. But Makarov continued to remain silent and looked like he was in deep thought and didn't plan on planning on responding anytime soon.

"Come on Gramps, just go ahead and tell them because I know that you could feel it too when he completely manhandled Scarlet like she was nothing." said Laxus, but Makarov remained silent.

"Erza what the hell is Laxus talking about?" asked Lucy who was now even more concerned about Natsu than she was before. But just like Makarov Erza looked like she didn't want to talk about it either.

"Mira do you have any idea what they felt?" asked Grey, since she was the only other S-Class mage at the guild right now. And he would rather not listen to Laxus' smug voice anymore since the lightning mage was enjoying all of this way too much.

"Natsu's level of magic power was at Laxus' level." answered Mira with a frown.

"You have to be kidding me, there is no way Flame Brain had that much power and never used it!" shouted Grey as he looked at Mira and then all of the other S-Class mages and Master.

"She's not lying Grey, which means that this whole time he has just been playing with you and could have easily defeated you any time he wanted to. But our little demon is leaving out the most interesting part of what we all felt, and our little knight could probably describe it the best since she was on the receiving end of his attack." stated Laxus still having that same smirk he's had on the whole time.

"What could be more shocking than Natsu being at your level Laxus?" asked Cana and only got chuckles from him.

"Mira could you please tell us what you guys felt from Natsu?" asked Lucy.

"His magic felt nothing like it used to." replied Mira with a frown.

"It looked the same to me except for being slightly darker than it normally is." stated Grey with a confused look.

"And that is why you aren't ready to be an S-Class mage yet Grey." said Laxus after he stopped chuckling.

"I am sick and tired of you saying that shit Laxus." growled Grey.

"And what are you going to do about it Grey, I would love it if you came up here and made me. But then Gramps would have to kick you out too, and I don't know if he could handle doing that to another one of his precious kids." taunted Laxus, which was too much for Grey as he sprinted for the stairs but was stopped right before he took first step by Erza.

"Please don't go up there Grey, that's what he wants and Master is already in enough pain as it is." said Erza quietly so that only he could hear her.

"What the hell type of pain is Master in; he's the one that chose to kick Natsu out when he didn't have to? And I am going to go up there and beat the shit out of Laxus unless you tell me what the hell is going on with Natsu." shouted Grey as he glared at Erza. Making everyone start wondering if being afraid of Erza was now a thing of the past since both Natsu and Grey no longer feared her.

"Okay Grey but let's go take a seat at the bar." replied Erza as she let go of him and headed towards the bar.

"Master had to do this Grey, and as much as it pains me to say it he was correct about Natsu possibly getting someone killed while doing something this foolish again." started Erza but got cut off.

"Bullshit, because from what you guys have all just been saying Natsu is at Laxus' level." argued Grey as he glared at her.

"Yes Natsu is at his level, but he lacks the experience required for most S-Class jobs. And that is one of the most important things for an S-Class mage, which is why he still might have gotten someone hurt or worse if he was allowed to keep doing things like he has been." explained Erza.

"It looks like you can handle all of this Erza, I'm going to go to my office and I don't want to be disturbed for any reason." stated Makarov as he jumped to the second level and disappeared before anyone could say anything back to him.

"HAHAHAHA he's probably crying about kicking Natsu out." laughed Laxus and instantly had the entire guild glaring at him.

"Shut the fuck up Laxus!" shouted Mira.

"Don't worry I was just about to leave since Erza is taking her sweet time explaining all of this and I am getting bored now. Oh and since they might not mention this about Natsu, but the main thing that changed for him and why he so easily beat Erza. Was because he no longer viewed her as his family like he used to do and saw her as an enemy." stated Laxus as he started to stretch.

"How does that change anything?" asked Levy, who decided to finally ask a question.

"It does more than you could possibly imagine, have you ever wondered how and why Natsu causes so much destruction on his jobs?" asked Laxus with a sly grin.

"I'd be lying if I didn't since he's yet to completely destroy the guild during any of the brawls." said Levy with a thoughtful look.

"And the answer to that is quite simple. He's been holding back since the moment he joined our guild because he was afraid of hurting one of you by accident. I am actually ashamed that I didn't realize all of this till now, but I just thought he was an idiot like everyone else. But back to Natsu doing his jobs, they are the only time that he can actually cut loose without the fear of hurting someone he cares about." explained Laxus.

"But if that was true, then couldn't he accidentally hurt someone during his jobs?" asked Levy.

"He definitely has, and at least someone in this guild is starting to finally make sense of all of this. That's were some of his reward goes to so Fairy Tail's reputation wouldn't get ruined by him." answered Laxus as he made his way down the stairs.

"Natsu wouldn't do that, he's cares about everyone's safety." stated Lucy as she glared at Laxus.

"That he does, but having as much power as he does is hard to control blondie. And trust me since I have more than he does, also if Natsu isn't lying about being raised by a dragon it wouldn't surprise me if he's actually killed someone before." said Laxus with his biggest smirk yet as he watched all of the shocked faces at hearing this.

"And why would being raised by a dragon make you think that Laxus?" asked Erza as she glared at him.

"Well for starters they are ferocious beasts that have killed thousands of humans when they used to roam the lands. And it wouldn't be too hard to believe that his dragon taught him that in this world there is one simple rule that is undisputable. Only the strong will survive in a life or death situation and sometimes that means kill or be killed." replied Laxus with a serious face for the first time since he made his presence known to the rest of the guild.

"That still doesn't mean he's killed someone." pointed out Lucy.

"I never said he did blondie, I only said that it wouldn't surprise me if he did. Oh and you guys don't know how bad Makarov's decision to kick out someone as loyal as Natsu was." stated Laxus as he then turned and started to leave.

"What the hell do you mean by that Laxus?" asked Mira in a threatening tone.

"You'll find out soon enough." replied Laxus as he gave them one last smirk before disappearing in a bolt of lightning.

"I really don't like the sound of that." said Lucy as she shook her head to get the unpleasant thoughts out of it.

"We can worry about that later Lucy, but now that the asshole is gone you can continue with telling me about Natsu's magic and how it's different now. Oh and I still think there could have been a better way to deal with him other than kicking him out." said Grey as he looked at Erza demanding that she continue her explanation.

"I agree with you on that one Grey but what else could Master have done, Natsu blatantly broke a rule and knew that this could have happened." stated Erza.

"I don't know, he could have at least thought about this for a few days." stated Grey.

"He has been Grey, as soon as we realized you weren't bringing Natsu back Master has been trying to figure out what to do once you all returned. And as he said we were lucky that you all returned to us completely fine." said Mira with a frown.

"I wouldn't call this completely fine since we lost both Natsu and Happy!" shouted Grey as he glared at Mira.

"I don't like this anymore than you do Grey, they were both the closest people to me besides Elfman!" shouted Mira as she glared right back at him.

"Enough you two, unless you don't want me to continue explaining what Natsu's magic felt like Grey." said Erza as she glared at the two of them.

"Fine." sighed Grey.

"I need to go for a walk." stated Mira as she left the guild through the back entrance.

"There's really no good way of explaining this." started Erza but then stopped.

"How about using your words and we'll try and make sense of it." said Grey who was tired of all of this.

"His magic felt cold." replied Erza with a frown.

"How the hell did his fire feel cold?" asked Levy who had never heard of something like this. And since she had never heard anything like this it was safe to say that no one else in the guild had either.

"Not his actual fire but the aura that it gave off, his used to be warm and protective with something that I can only describe as being cheerful. Just like he somehow always was while at the guild and on jobs with us." said Erza as everyone couldn't help but smile since they have all actually felt that when around Natsu.

"But now it's cold and lonely, and it also felt sad and depressed. It also had a feeling of great pain and abandonment, with large amounts of anger and a very faint touch of killing intent. All of which would have never been things that I would associate with Natsu, well except for physical pain maybe." continued Erza as everyone lost their slight smiles at hearing all of this.

"That is almost the complete opposite of the Natsu I know." stated a shocked Lucy.

"That it is which is why I am really concerned about him." replied Erza with a concerned look in her eyes.

"Then why don't we go and bring him back?" asked Lucy with a faint yet hopeful smile.

"Because we can't Lucy, he's been kicked out of the guild and all of us going after him will only make it worse. Just look at what he did when I tried to keep him from just leaving the guild." said Erza with a frown that turned into a grimace because of her broken ribs.

"But this all just feels so wrong, he's the only reason that I'm a member." said Lucy with a frown.

"I know Lucy, but the last thing Natsu would want you doing is giving up on your dream for him." stated Levy with a slight smile, hoping that this would comfort Lucy a little bit.

"I'm starting to think that it would have been better if we didn't return." stated Grey to everyone else's shock.

"How can you say that Grey?" asked Erza as she was about to beat the shit out of him.

"Because at least then Natsu wouldn't hate us like he most likely does right now." replied Grey with a frown.

"Why would Natsu hate us?" asked Lucy with a concerned look.

"I don't know maybe because we just abandoned him just like everyone else that he's ever connected with. And you just heard how Erza described his magic and you also heard what he said before he left. Does any of that sound like a person that is happy and not angry at being kicked out of his only family?" asked Grey as everyone looked down since he was right about it.

"I need to go clear my head before I do something stupid." stated Grey as he got up and left. The guild hall was eerily quiet for the next few minutes until Mira burst in out of breath and all could see that she had been crying before.

 **Minutes earlier in front of Lisanna's make shift grave outside of the hut she and Natsu built:**

"First you're taken away from me Lisanna and now they are leaving me too. What did I do to deserve this Lisanna, why do the people I care for the most leave? Is Elfman going to be the next one that is taken from me?" asked Mira as she cried in front of the tombstone of her little sister.

"I really don't know if I can handle this Lisanna." she stated while looking at the tombstone that Natsu made.

"Maybe I should have never joined Fairy Tail like I initially planned all those years ago? If I had done that then you would have still been here and would have probably been dating Natsu by now. And you would have stopped him from feeling the need to prove himself to the guild and he would also still be here." she said out loud to herself as she continued to cry.

"But I thought that maybe we could actually live a happy life at Fairy Tail, and that only caused all of this to happen." she stated while wiping away some of her tears that were still coming.

"None of this is your fault Mira." came the voice of the last person she expected to hear right now.

"Natsu?" asked Mira afraid to look back to only realize that her mind was playing tricks on her.

"Yes Mira and I am only here to say my goodbyes to her before I leave." he replied in a sad tone.

"Natsu you can't leave, the guild needs you and so do I." she said as she turned to look at him. And was she surprised to see him in a tattered cloak with a big bag slung over his left shoulder.

"I don't really have a choice Mira, also the guild and you will be better off without me." he stated as if it was a fact.

"That isn't true Natsu, so please come back and we can fix all of this." she replied with a smile as she reached for his hand but was shocked when he backed away from her.

"Sorry Mira, but Makarov isn't going to change his mind on this. And you'll definitely be fine without me, because you're one of the strongest people I've ever known. So please don't start thinking again that things like this happened because of you like you did when she died." stated Natsu with a serious expression.

"I'll try Natsu but how am I supposed to do that if you're not hear with me like you were last time?" asked Mira as she looked at him and almost started to cry again.

"I didn't do anything that Elfman couldn't have done for you, now I need to say a few words to Lisanna before I leave." stated Natsu as he went past her and stood in front of the headstone.

"Hey Lisanna, it turns out that the great idea I told you about last time I was here back fired. I know that you would have warned me that something like this would have happened, but I was sick and tired of doing those boring jobs and Laxus talking down to the rest of the guild was the last straw." said Natsu with a sad chuckle.

"Well I guess that doesn't matter since I am no longer a member, and I disappointed you once again. But hey, Happy is taking after you like I hoped he would and he still sees the guild as his family even when I was ready to leave them and never look back." he stated with a proud smile.

"You'd be proud of how well he's been doing even after your passing, which I don't know if I would have been able to recover form if it wasn't for him as I've said before. He's always bringing a smile to me and everyone else that is around him, he was able to even bring a smile to my face today. So I guess that's about it and I probably won't be back for a really long time Lisanna but you'll always be in our minds as we start this next adventure." he finished with his usual smile. But he was surprised when Mira suddenly hugged him from behind and started to cry into his cloak.

"You can't leave Natsu!" begged Mira.

"That's the only thing I can do Mira, wait a minute is that smoke coming from my house?" asked Natsu, causing Mira to let go of him and look in the direction of his house. And sure enough there was a large pillar of smoke coming from the general area where his house was.

"Oh no, we need to go stop it before you and Happy don't have a home anymore." stated Mira and then turned to realize he was no longer there.

"Natsu?" asked Mira hoping that this wasn't what she thought it was. But after a few moments of silence she knew he was gone since he was only there to say his goodbye to Lisanna, so she decided to investigate the fire that distracted her from Natsu.

And once she got there she started to cry and what she found. Natsu and Happy's house was completely covered in flames that were making quick work of all the possessions that the two of them collected over their time while being mages of Fairy Tail. They even took the time to take their sign and throw it in front of the door so that once the fire was done there would be no traces of them having ever lived there.

"Why Natsu?" asked Mira as she continued to cry as she watched the fire burn away a life time of memories that he and Happy made together. But what made it worse for her was that Natsu actually used his own fire to make sure that nothing would remain, and that also included his collection of mementos that he had for each job he did. Because she knew that he wouldn't have been able to take even half of them in that bag he had with him at Lisanna's grave.

 **Back to the present at Fairy Tail:**

"What's the matter Mira?" asked Lucy concerned about the state that she was in.

"They're gone." replied Mira as she choked back a sob.

"Of course they are Mira, Master kicked him out of the guild." stated Erza with a frown.

"No you don't get it Erza, their gone and I don't think they're ever going to be coming back again." said Mira as she tried to not start crying again.

"Come on Mira, you can't know something like that." said Erza, who dreaded the reason why Mira thought this.

"They burned their house and everything else along with it Erza, and that includes all of his mementos he's collected over the years. And I only know this because I met him at the headstone he made for her, as he said his farewell to her and that he doesn't know when the next time he'll talk with her." explained Mira as the rest of the guild realized the implications of what she just said.

"He didn't, he would never do that." denied Erza not wanting to believe this.

"He did Erza." replied Mira who then started to cry as Elfman tried to console her.

"I don't get what's going on." Lucy whispered to Levy.

"Natsu would collect things from every job that he took and when asked why he did that he said that he did it to make sure that he would never forget the good times he had while at the guild. So this pretty much confirms what Grey said and if not that then that he plans to try and forget us at least and his time here." explained Levy who was barely able to keep her tears at bay.

"Then who was he talking to in front of a headstone?" asked Lucy who wanted to know exactly what was going on right now.

"There wasn't anyone there Lucy; he was talking to Lisanna who was his first real friend. And she unfortunately died two years ago on an S-Class job, which is why Master was so angry that Natsu of all people took you on one of them because he was afraid that it was going to happen again." said Levy.

"He was there when she died?" asked Lucy.

"No he wasn't because he wasn't an S-Class mage then either, and the only reason that Lisanna was there was due to it being an emergency job. And Mira was the only S-Class mage at the guild when we got it so she just took her siblings with her. And Natsu has blamed himself for not going with them ever since, and it would appear that Happy did the same thing." explained Levy as she wiped away a few stray tears.

"That's just terrible, I never knew something like that happened here." stated Lucy.

"Not something that most people want to remember and the guild took it really hard. But Natsu and Happy somehow came back after a couple of days and got the rest of the guild to cheer up. No one really knows what those two did during that time, but after it there was a tombstone made for Lisanna on the hill that she and him took care of Happy's egg on. And ever since then if you couldn't find Natsu at the guild then the only two other places to look for him would be at his house or there with her since he liked to tell her what was happening at the guild." finished Levy now in tears and was being held by Lucy who was also crying after hearing all of this.

"I need to see for myself." stated Erza as she headed out of the guild not wanting to believe what Mira just told them.

"I am so sorry Natsu and everyone else." said Makarov quietly to himself as he watched the guild from the second level.

 **Jose Porla's office:**

"Glad that Sol got to you in time Gajeel." said Jose with a grin that would give children nightmares.

"What the hell Master, I thought we were going to finally give those Fairies what they deserve?" asked a clearly upset Gajeel.

"Don't worry Gajeel; they'll definitely be put in their rightful place underneath us. But I was informed of something that could possibly be very beneficial to our plans." stated Jose still grinning.

"And what would that be Master?" asked Gajeel who was mad since he didn't get to destroy anything yet.

"It had to deal with Salamander and him possibly being kicked out of their guild." he answered with a wicked smile.

"That's why you stopped me, I already told you that I could have easily dealt with him and any of their other members right after." said Gajeel, upset that this was why Jose stopped him from destroying the Fairy Tail guild hall.

"And I believe that you could have Gajeel, but wouldn't it be so much better if Salamander was with us when we attack them." stated Jose, which actually caused Gajeel to actually laugh.

"Yeah like Salamander would ever turn on his old guild." he replied with a smirk.

"From what I've heard Salamander might have some problems with being abandoned again. And if that's true I am pretty sure he could be convinced to help us out with this." said Jose with a sinister grin.

"Aren't we supposed to get that Heartfilia girl for her dad?" asked Gajeel, who just wanted to fight someone that could give him a challenge.

"That can wait since her father still doesn't know she's part of Fairy Tail yet. And during that time we can make sure that Salamander will want some revenge against his old guild. Just thinking about the look on Makarov's face as his once beloved child fights against him will make the time we wait worth it." he answered still grinning.

"Seems like we're wasting our time when we can be done with them right now." stated Gajeel after a sigh.

"You don't want to rush things like this Gajeel, because when you do that is when they fail. Good things always come to those who wait, and I have been waiting years for this opportunity. And if we do this correctly Salamander will be someone that even you will want to fight after all of this, and once we take down Fairy Tail he'll be of no more use to us so you can do whatever you want with him." explained Jose.

"Now that's something I can get behind, so how do you plan to accomplish all of this Master?" asked Gajeel with a smirk.

"It's actually going to require very little work from us, we only have to wait and see if he's been kicked out of Fairy Tail before we can get to work." replied Jose.

"Wait a minute we still don't even know if Salamander is kicked out yet?" asked Gajeel as he glared at his Master.

"Calm down Gajeel, if Makarov is anything it's predictable and after what Salamander did he'll feel that he has to kick him out to protect the other members of his guild." he answered while leaning back in his chair.

"What the hell did Salamander do that could possibly hurt his guild members, because form what I've heard he's incredibly protective of them?" asked Gajeel since this didn't sound right.

"He completed an S-Class job he didn't get permission to do since he's only an A-Class mage." he stated with a smirk.

"How the fuck is that worthy of expulsion, if anything that sounds like he should be promoted?" asked Gajeel incredulously.

"I know it doesn't make sense to me either, but Makarov is afraid of losing more mages after that one died two years ago on an S-Class job. And apparently she was actually really close to Salamander, which makes all of this even more absurd than it already was. Oh and my spy in magnolia just confirmed that he's been expelled." said Jose as he read the message off of a communication lacrima.

"So now that we know he's no longer a fairy what are we going to do?" asked Gajeel with a grin.

"First we make sure that no other guild will accept him, which shouldn't be too hard to do with his history of going overboard. And while we do that we'll spread rumors about him being kicked out of Fairy Tail, because I am sure there are a few dark guilds out there that wouldn't mind trying to get some payback." answered Jose with a big smile.

"What if they kill him?" asked Gajeel, with no actual concern for Natsu. He was just worried about not getting a good fight out of this since Fairy Tails ace was never around and Laxus was also rarely seen there anymore. The only other people that he might get a good fight out of is Titania, which he thought was unfair since he could literally eat her swords to power up.

"If that happens then he wouldn't have put up much of a fight for you and would have been a disappointment. Also I will be able to tell Makarov that we were the ones that caused his death if that happens, which will almost be as good as him having to watch Salamander fight against him." responded Jose and started to laugh at the end.

"Damn Master, I really don't ever want to be your enemy." stated Gajeel with a smirk.

"Glad to hear Gajeel because now I know it's less likely for you to betray me. But I have a few other guild masters that I need to run into by accident and start a friendly chat with." said Jose as he got up out of his chair and headed to his door.

"And what would you like me to do Master?" asked Gajeel.

"You and a few other members can hit up some of the taverns across Fiore and start spreading the word. The more places that start talking about this the greater chance a dark guild will act on it." answered Jose right before he left his office.

"Salamander I can't wait to meet you, because there isn't enough room in the sky for two dragons." said Gajeel to himself as he got up to go and do as his Master told him to.

 **End of Chapter**

 **Author's Note:**

 **Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this story. And for those that have read some of my other stories, sorry about not working on them when I was working on this. But unfortunately this story has been in my head for a really long time and I just had to write it so I could get back to work on my other stories. Also this chapter turned out to be a lot longer than I planned and don't know if the other chapters will be this long, but I do tend to try and keep them over five thousand at least. Also as the description said this story is going to have a darker Natsu who unlike in my other stories isn't on very good terms with Fairy Tail, since I have wanted to write a story like that for a long time. Well that is about it for these notes so as always I would love to hear what you thought about the starting of this story. And feel free to leave a review or pm and I'll try to message you back as soon as I can.**

 **Until the next Chapter**

 **Digem Out!**


	2. The Descent

Ch 2: The Descent

 **Three weeks later:**

Two figures could be seen sitting next to the edge of the river bank as the sun started to set in the distance. One of the figures was a young mage with pink hair, which looked as if it hadn't been properly washed for more than a week. And the rest of his outfit didn't look much better than his hair, thanks to all the dirt and mud spread all over it. But that wasn't even the worst part about his outfit, they also looked like they were about to fall off of him any minute now due to excessive overuse that they received during the last three weeks.

The other figure was that of a blue cat with a green knapsack on his back. And just like his partner he had seen better days if you judged him by his fur that was knotted and tangled together with all sorts of things that you couldn't even imagine. His knapsack which was his only article of clothing was still in pristine condition somehow and contained all of his earthly possessions at the moment. But despite all of this both of them had small smiles on their faces as they watched the sunset waiting for a fish to bite so that they would have something to eat for the night.

"Natsu I'm hungry." stated the blue cat as he looked to his right side where the other figure was sitting.

"Why do you think we're fishing Happy?" asked Natsu as he grinned at his little buddy.

"Can't we just go to the nearest town and buy some fishes?" asked Happy while giving him the look that he could never say no to.

"Sorry buddy but we ran out of our last jewels at the beginning of this week. If we had any I would gladly go and get you some." he replied still grinning.

"Not having jewels really sucks." stated Happy as he looked at his fishing line hopefully.

"That it does Happy, but none of the other guilds want me working for them." said Natsu with a frown.

"None of them?" asked Happy.

"Absolutely none of them buddy, and they all said that they didn't want a mage that was kicked out of a guild that is none for being reckless for that exact reason." he answered still frowning.

"How did they even know about all of that Natsu, I didn't think Fairy Tail would go around spreading that?" asked the blue Exceed as he looked at him with a puzzled look.

"I didn't either Happy, but however it did get out it really made it hard for us to find work. But I have a really good feeling about tomorrow buddy, I just know that we'll be set for at least a week after tomorrow." stated Natsu with a confident grin.

"What about Phantom Lord Natsu, did you even ask them?" asked Happy hesitantly.

"Yes I did and Jose said that he didn't need any more mages as of right now but I should check back with him within the next two weeks. Apparently he's got something big planned and might need someone with a background like mine." he answered as he started to reel in his line to call it quits for the night.

"He needs someone that can destroy things easily, and when did you go there?" asked Happy as he looked at him suspiciously.

"Yes he does Happy and it was when we were in Oak Town, you were drooling at all of the fish in their market. And I could tell you were going to be like that for a while so I decided to go on without you." replied Natsu while shaking his head at his best friend.

"Oh, well you can't blame me since fish are the best thing ever!" he cheered back.

"HAHAHA you are never going to change your opinion on that are you?" asked Natsu as he got up.

"Nope!" he replied happily.

"So are you going to still try and catch a fish, because I am going to head back to camp." stated Natsu.

"I'm not leaving here until I catch at least one delicious fish." he declared while sacking one of his fists at the river and fish that weren't biting right now.

"You might be here all night then." pointed out Natsu.

"If that's what it takes to get one than I am willing to do it Natsu." was his response while smiling.

"Well I'm going back to camp then buddy." he said with a grin.

"What camp Natsu, all of your things were stolen while you were passed out on the train." said Happy with a grin.

"And who's fault is that?" asked Natsu as he glared at the Exceed.

"I'm not the one that got sick Natsu." stated Happy with a little smirk.

"Yes, but whose idea was it to ride the train?" he asked back.

"I'm pretty sure it was yours." answered Happy, while barely being able to keep from laughing out loud at Natsu's face.

"When have I ever once wanted to ride on one of those death traps?" asked Natsu loudly.

"Natsu look what you've done; now the fish are never going to bite. I guess I might as well call it a night too." said Happy while chuckling to himself.

"You know that you could have just come back with me Happy, you really didn't need to remind me about someone stealing all of my things." he stated with a frown.

"I know that Natsu, but this way was more entertaining." replied Happy as he landed on Natsu's head with a smug smile.

"Lisanna would be proud of you Happy." he said with a proud grin.

"Of course she would, and that's because you've always been there for me Natsu." said Happy.

"And I always will be buddy." stated Natsu as he scratched Happy behind his right ear causing him to start purring.

 **The next day at Fairy Tail:**

Everything had just started to get back to normal at Fairy Tail, everyone was going about their days like normal which meant heading to the guild and chatting with their friends until they decided to do a job. But anyone that had actually visited the guild before three weeks ago would have seen that something was different. They were overall calmer than they used to be, not only that but there were less fights breaking out randomly in the guild hall. And it was clear that this was all because of the absence of a certain pink haired fire mage.

"Lucy you know that your punishment ended a week ago and you no longer need to work the bar with me anymore." stated Mira with a soft smile.

"I know that Mira, but I actually enjoy doing this. And now that I am actually getting paid for it makes it even better, with this I never have to worry about not being able to pay my rent on time again." replied Lucy as she handed a few members their drinks that they ordered.

"Okay Lucy, I just wanted to make sure that you knew." said Mira still smiling at her.

"Did you hear the new rumors going around about Natsu." said a random member to his friend sitting across from him. This instantly caused Mira and Lucy to float around them so that they could listen in since most of the members chose to not talk about him after his banishment. Mainly due to a few members not dealing with his departure too well, which were mainly Erza and Grey since they interacted with him the most out of all the members.

"Which ones are you talking about, because there are a lot going around about him right now?" asked his friend.

"I'm talking about the ones that are saying no other guild will accept him. And because of that he can't find any work and isn't looking too good right now." replied the first guy.

"Unfortunately yes I have, really makes you glad to be part of a guild." he stated.

"That it does, but something like this was bound to happen with how careless he always was. Master still hasn't recovered from it completely yet, even though everyone knows it had to be done." stated the one to initiate this conversation with a frown.

"I don't know if that will happen if some of the other rumors going around actually happen." replied the other with a serious look on his face.

"What the hell are you talking about?" asked his friend with an eyebrow raised.

"Looks like I should have been the one asking you if you've heard the new rumors about him. Anyways, apparently since all of these rumors are going on about him a few dark guilds are going to use this opportunity to try and take him out." he answered with a frown, as the sound of glass shattering on the floor could be heard in the distance. But since this was Fairy Tail the two mages didn't even think twice about it and continued their conversation like nothing happened.

"Shit, but Natsu is as strong as Laxus so trying to do that will almost be impossible for a single dark guild to do." stated his friend.

"Yes which is way the rumor is actually about a group of dark guilds coming together to take him down with sheer numbers." he replied with the same frown as before.

"Damn, if they actually succeed with that then Master is going to blame himself for this." said the first mage with a large frown on his face.

"That he will, and to think that all of this started because Natsu took an S-Class job without getting permission or even talking with Master about it. Really makes you think how just one small decision can cause so many other things to happen that you never could have predicted." he said while shaking his head.

"I need to take my mind off such depressing thoughts; I'm going on a job. Do you want to join me?" asked his friend as he got up from the table.

"I think I'll have to pass on this one, I really don't feel like going on a job after talking about that. I think I am going to head home and spend the day with the family." he replied while also getting up from the table and then exiting the guild as the other one went to the request board trying to find a job.

"Did you hear all of that Mira?" asked Lucy as she came over to Mira who was now sweeping up the broken glass on the floor thanks to her being startled by what the two said.

"That I did, do you think those three know about this yet?" she asked back with a concerned look.

"Master might, but if the other two did then I know they would be out there looking for him until they found him." replied Lucy with a frown.

"That is exactly why we're going to keep this information from them." stated Makarov, startling the two girls since they didn't realize he was even there.

"So how long have you known about this Master?" asked Mira as she looked at him with a slightly angry expression.

"For a few days." he replied with a frown.

"And what are we going to do about this?" asked Lucy, hoping that Makarov had something planned.

"Nothing Lucy, and before you start arguing with me let me finish. Yes this is terrible news but Natsu is no longer our responsibility, and as of right now they're only rumors that he's probably already heard while walking through random towns. So there is no reason to get worked up when he can definitely take care of himself as he demonstrated when he left." explained Makarov still frowning.

"Don't you think he's learned his lesson by now Master?" asked Mira in an almost pleading tone.

"Sorry Mira but we can't know that yet." he replied.

"How will we know if he has though Master, what does he need to do in order to be accepted back into the guild?" she asked him in the same tone.

"The first step would be showing some more maturity, after that he would just have to show that he still cares about the guild." he answered with a slight smile since these things should be really easy for Natsu to do. He did this on purpose in hopes of getting their dragon slayer back before Grey and Erza do something stupid because of his absence.

"That's great, I bet if we found him right now he would meet all of those requirements." stated Lucy with a hopeful grin.

"I hope you're right Lucy, but I still won't let you go out there and look for him." he stated with a frown.

"Why not Master?" she asked with a disappointed look.

"I won't let you go because there is something else going on here, and until I figure out what it is I don't want anyone going after him." he replied.

"What do you mean by that Master?" asked Mira once again concerned about Natsu more than she already was.

"Well for starters rumors about him being kicked out of Fairy Tail seemed to spring up the very next day after it happened. And I know that no one from the guild would go about spreading something like that, which means someone was watching us and told others. Also all of the other guilds not accepting a mage as strong as Natsu is a little weird as well." he answered while stroking his mustache.

"Wouldn't they be too concerned about the damage that he always does?" asked Lucy, who was trying to come up with a logical explanation.

"For some of them yes, but I knew of a few Masters who wouldn't care about something that trivial." he stated while shaking his head.

"All of that does make it feel like someone is doing something in the background." agreed Mira with an upset facial expression.

"Who would do something like that to Natsu, and what could they gain from doing it?" asked Lucy.

"Unfortunately I don't have the answer to either of those questions, but I am trying to find that out right now." he answered with another frown.

"Whoever it is will regret ever messing with Natsu once he finds out about this." said Mira with a little grin as she imagined Natsu beating the shit out of the person that was responsible for all of this.

"It would probably be for the best if Natsu didn't find out about this either." stated Makarov.

"And why not Master, this is all about him in the first place?" she asked finding it wrong that they wouldn't inform him about all of this.

"Simply because he lets his emotions impact his decisions way too much. And if he found out about this then he might actually kill the one responsible in a fit of rage." he stated with a serious expression that was also sad.

"I still don't think he's capable of doing that." said Lucy with a frown as the other two just remained silent. Since both of them couldn't help but agree with Laxus on this one, and just hoped that Natsu would never be put into a situation where he would be required to kill someone else to survive. While Makarov was also concerned that he might let his anger take control and end someone when he wasn't properly thinking.

 **With Natsu and Happy:**

"Wake up sleepy head; it's about time we move out. I don't want to stay in one place for too long." said Natsu as he lightly shook Happy.

"Five more minutes Natsu." mumbled Happy as he turned away from him.

"You're really lazy sometimes you know that buddy?" he asked with a grin.

"Come here you delicious little fish." mumbled Happy clearly still sleeping.

"HAHAHA what am I going to do with you." he said as he picked him up and set him on his head.

"Well since you already have your bag with you buddy we're ready to take off." he stated as he started to walk north since he really didn't have anything planned out. And for the next ten minutes Natsu headed north through the woods that they were camping in. But something hit him like a brick wall and caused him to stop in his tracks and start smelling the air.

"Why'd you stop Natsu?" asked Happy as he rubbed his eyes to get rid of the sleep still in the corners of them.

"I just realized that I haven't heard any sounds of the usual forest life for the last five minutes." he replied as he slightly tensed up and continued to sniff the air, which now had the scent of a lot of people.

"You're just being paranoid after hearing that dark guilds are after you." stated Happy with a smile.

"No Happy there is definitely something off about all of this. I want you to be ready to take off at the first signs of trouble." he said as he started to scan the trees around them.

"I won't leave you Natsu." declared Happy.

"Happy I am not asking you, if you don't listen to me on this one then we're going to be splitting ways after this!" shouted Natsu causing the Exceed to take flight and look at him in horror.

"You don't mean that Natsu." said Happy on the verge of crying.

"I do if you don't listen to me." he replied while not even looking at him.

"Natsu, what's going on?" asked Happy still doing his best to keep from crying.

"They've finally found us and now we're surrounded." he stated as both of his fist caught on fire that was a combination of orange and red.

"Who found us Natsu and why don't we just run?" asked a now scared Happy.

"A few dark guilds and I am sick of running buddy. This is where I end this game of cat and mouse." stated Natsu as a devious grin spread across his lips as he locked his eyes onto a tree.

"I couldn't agree with you more on that one Salamander." said a man as he came out of the tree Natsu was staring at. His appearance was nothing special, the only thing that stuck out about him was his blonde hair. But that was because everything else that he wore was black, even the cloak that he tossed to the side.

"I think you might have the wrong idea of who's the cat in this situation." stated Natsu still grinning.

"I'm fairly sure that I don't Salamander, and do you know why that is?" he asked with a smirk now on his face.

"I'd have to say you think you are the cat because you think that since you have fifty other mages surrounding me I'll be the one on the run. But that isn't going to happen, and you all chose a really shitty time to do this." replied Natsu.

"So what they say about your senses is true, but a bluff is still a bluff Salamander. And I really don't care why this is a shitty time for you since you're going to be sleeping with the fishes soon." said the man as a few more dark mages revealed themselves. This caused Happy to take off like Natsu ordered him too, since he knew Natsu could go full out if he wasn't afraid that he might hurt him.

"No I meant that it was a really shitty day for you guys to do this because I haven't gotten to cut loose since I was kicked out of my old guild. And it doesn't matter how many mice there are when the cat will easily mow them down, so let's get this party started." cackled Natsu with a crazed grin, that actually caused the dark mages to take a step back in fear. But that was only for a moment until they realized that there was still only one of him and more than fifty of them.

"We'll see about that Salamander." replied the man that Natsu had been talking to. Only for him to be launched straight through a nearby tree and end up crumpled up in a pile at the base of a different tree no longer moving.

"Okay who's next?" asked Natsu still with the crazed grin on his face as he looked at the other dark mages. Who were once again having second thoughts about all of this, but they had already come too far to turn back now.

 **With Jose:**

"You called for me Master?" asked Gajeel as he entered Jose's office.

"That I did Gajeel, and it was to let you know that everything has gone according to plan so far." replied Jose with a proud smirk.

"So when I am going to meet this Salamander?" asked Gajeel with a sinister grin.

"Within the next two weeks most likely, and you only missed him by an hour when he visited me over a week ago." stated Jose now having his usual creepy grin.

"I thought I smelt something off that day, I guess I know why now. And man I can't wait to beat the shit out of him after we take down those smug Fairies." said Gajeel while cracking his knuckles.

"About that Gajeel, it would seem my spy didn't have correct intel on Salamander." he said while getting out a book and starting to flip through it.

"Don't tell me that he's weaker than you initially thought?" asked Gajeel with a frown.

"Actually the exact opposite Gajeel, he's way stronger than I ever thought possible for a mage that wasn't even at an S-Class level." he replied looking up from his book.

"How strong are we talking about?" asked Gajeel now having an excited grin on his face.

"Let's just say I don't think you have a chance against him when he's at full strength. But luckily I already have a few plans to fix that little problem of ours so you can still have your fight with him." he answered with a bigger grin.

"Well don't do them Master." stated Gajeel as he glared at Jose.

"And why wouldn't I do that Gajeel?" he asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Because I am going to prove to you and everyone else that I am the strongest dragon slayer out there. If there's nothing else you have to tell me I am going to head out on a job with Juvia that should take a week tops." replied Gajeel, who then started to head towards the door.

"That's fine Gajeel and I'll be excited to watch your fight with Salamander." he stated once again grinning.

"And you'll realize that you made the correct choice in taking me in Master." said Gajeel before he left.

"I already know that Gajeel, you've always done everything I've ever asked of you without a single question. And you even keep going above and beyond on the missions I send you out on, which has given you quite the reputation." said Jose quietly to himself.

"But what I felt coming from Salamander is something that most mages couldn't handle and that unfortunately includes you Gajeel. Heck he'd even give me a run for my money if I wasn't careful, which is why I'll still have those traps set just in case." he said before he went back to his book.

 **After five hours of fighting with Natsu:**

The once luscious woods where now reduced to a smoldering wasteland with craters and downed trees everywhere. And right in the middle of it stood Natsu, who was looking a lot worse for wear than he did five hours ago. Long gone was all of his clothing except for his tattered pants and his scarf that was somehow still in perfect condition despite what he went through. His lack of clothing wasn't the only change to his appearance, Natsu now had wounds littered all over his body from a wide variety of attacks sent at him all in the hopes of finishing him off.

"You are one tough son of a bitch Salamander." stated one of the few remaining dark mages. That unfortunately for Natsu still numbered at, at least ten mages, which was far too many for him after taking out all of the others single handedly.

"Glad to not disappoint you." stated Natsu as he tried to catch his breath.

"But just like Eric said, even the strongest mage will eventually run out if you keep sending more mages at them. And if your ragged breathing is any indication, then you've reached your limit Salamander." said a different dark mage.

"We'll see about that." replied Natsu as he instantly went back into his fighting stance no longer showing any signs of being tired.

"Fuck, how the hell is he even standing after taking out more than seventy of us already?" asked one of the dark mages in a terrified voice.

"Because you're all weak." whispered Natsu from right behind said dark mage while having a sinister grin.

"When di…" was all the mage could say before his head was imbedded in the ground with Natsu standing over him.

"One down nine more to go." he stated while grinning at the other dark mages. All of them took a step back in fear of the monster before them, but Natsu accidentally staggered a bit. Letting them know that he was really close to going down any second now.

"See that boys, looks like we're the lucky bastards that took down the Salamander." stated one of them with a confident smirk.

"Shit, well which one of you pricks wants to be my next victim?" asked Natsu cursing his unfortunate luck. If he could have only held on a little longer then they would have all fled thinking he might actually be a monster that would never run out of stamina.

"I don't want to be the next one." stated the one that was clearly still scared of him the most.

"Why don't we just all go at him at the same time since he barely has any magic left? Since he can't do that explosive move he did when we started all of this." said one of them with a smirk.

"I like the sound of that." stated a different one now having a smirk of his own. That then turned into one of pain as a blue object collided into the side of his head and sent him flying into the mage that was still scared of Natsu. That effectively took both of them out in one fell swoop by the unidentified blue object that came out of nowhere.

"Leave Natsu alone or you'll all get what he just got!" shouted Happy with a fierce glare sent at the other dark mages.

"It's a talking and flying blue cat!" yelled one of the dark mages.

"He's the partner of Salamander and took off at the beginning of the fight." stated the only dark mage there that was there from the very beginning. Granted he was just watching at the beginning, but it did let him get a good feel for Natsu's fighting style. That if you didn't watch him for a really long time would appear to be random, when in all actuality it was one that just tried to confuse your opponents with erratic moves.

"Happy what the hell are you doing here?" asked Natsu with a grin that he couldn't help but have spread across his lips.

"Saving you of course." he replied with a smile.

"What can his cat do?" asked one of the dark mages.

"Nothing but fly as far as I can tell." stated the one that had been there the whole time.

"Let's just kill it then." said a different one only for his face to meet a flaming fist. That caused the rest of the dark mages to hear a sickening cracking sound and as the mage fell to the ground no longer moving. He now had copious amounts of blood coming from his head that looked as if Natsu might have cracked it wide open.

"If any of you even thinks about doing that I'll kill ever last one of you!" growled Natsu now covered in completely red flames that made him look like a demon.

"Fuck, I thought he was almost out?" asked one of the last six remaining dark mages.

"Just leave the cat alone and I think he might run out of this new magic." said the same mage that seemed to be pretty intelligent.

"Let's end this now." declared Natsu as he glared at them while taking a wide stance.

"Scatter!" shouted the same dark mage as before.

 **"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!"** shouted Natsu and unleashed a red roar of fire right at the group of dark mages. That most of them dodged thanks to the warning given to them by their fellow member with only two of them getting caught in the roar that easily would have taken them all out.

"Fuck that was close, let him have it boys." commanded the mage they all saw as their leader right now. And all four of them started to hurl spells at Natsu, who did his best to dodge or block them. But unfortunately he knew he was too low on magic to keep this up, which is why he tried to end it with that last roar.

"Natsu!" screamed Happy as he head-butted another one of the dark mages and knocking him out.

"Happy, run for it." shouted Natsu as he was getting battered down and could barely stand anymore.

"I can't Natsu, not without you!" yelled Happy as he charged at one of the dark mages. But before he could hit him he was hit away and crashed into the ground. And before he could get back up a foot pushed his face back into the ground.

"Shut the hell up cat." growled the dark mage with his foot on happy.

"Get your fucking foot off of him right now or I swear to everything you hold dear that I'll kill you." growled Natsu with a look that scared the dark mage into doing what he said.

"I told you to leave the cat alone." scolded their leader.

"He was getting on my nerves." replied the other dark mage.

"I don't give a fuck, now cat listen carefully. If you don't try and stop us we'll let you go, but if you don't then we'll kill you and Salamander in the most excruciating way possible." said the leader as he looked down at Happy.

"I'd never leave Natsu." declared Happy as he glared back up at the man.

"Happy you need to leave now. You can still go back to Fairy Tail and live a good life." said Natsu with a smile that everyone was surprised to see him have on his face given the circumstances.

"Not without you Natsu, especially when I know you're going to die if I leave you." replied Happy through the tears that were now falling.

"Happy have I ever lied to you?" asked Natsu still smiling at his best friend and son while being barely able to stand.

"No you never have." chocked out Happy.

"Then you need to leave now, and don't worry about me I'll be fine. We'll meet up at her favorite spot in a week and I know you know where I'm talking about." said Natsu now having his usual grin.

"Do you promise Natsu?" asked Happy as he wiped away the last of his tears.

"I promise buddy, now get out of here and we'll meet up there in a week." he answered still grinning at him.

"You better be there Natsu." said Happy as he summoned his wings and took off. But before he left he took one last look over his shoulder at Natsu. Who was barely able to stand and had blood all over him, but somehow still had that grin on his face as he looked at his friend retreating to somewhere safe.

"Damn Salamander, I'm amazed you are still standing. Not only that but you were somehow able to lie to your best friend like that when we both know you aren't going to be there in a week." stated the leader.

"It was the only way to get him to leave." replied Natsu as he coughed up some blood.

"You definitely lived up to your reputation Salamander; I don't think there are many mages out there that could have survived this long against four dark guilds working together. But it looks like this was actually a shitty day for you and not us like you initially said." pointed out the leader with a smug smile.

"Just get this fucking over with already." spat out Natsu with a smirk.

"You are probably the toughest son of a bitch I have ever met Salamander. But I can respect that you are done fighting and just want all of this to be over with, so I'll do just that." said the leader as shadows started to build up in between his two hands.

"Does something about your magic cause you to want to be bad? And I am only asking since every shadow mage I've ever met is in a dark guild." asked Natsu with a little chuckle.

"Going out with a laugh Salamander, not very many people are lucky enough to go out that way. But you are definitely one of the most unique mages I've run into so it's kind of fitting. **SHADOW STRIKE!** " said the mage as he released his attack at Natsu who made no attempts to move out of the way and only closed his eyes and waited for it to all be over.

But right when he expected to feel pain and then nothing afterwards, he heard the distinctive sound of Happy screaming out in pain. And when Natsu opened his eyes he saw the last thing he ever wanted to see happen fold out right before him. He watched in horror as Happy tumbled in front of him after taking the attack head on so that he wouldn't be hit by it, needless to say Natsu was at a loss for words.

"Stupid cat seems like he saw through that lie of yours as well Salamander." said the leader as he looked at Happy's body lying right in front of Natsu.

"Quit toying with him, just finish the both of them off already." said one of the other dark mages.

"Fine, but you two need to learn how to enjoy things like this more since they won't happen that often." replied the leader. He got ready to charge up another spell, but felt an immense amount of magic start coming from Natsu who was on his knees with his head down.

"That the hell is happening?" asked the other dark mage.

"I have no fucking idea." replied the leader.

"All you had to do was not hurt Happy." stated Natsu in a deep voice as more magic started to come from him.

"What the hell are you doing Salamander, and who cares about a stui… aagghh." said one of the dark mages. But was cut off mid-sentence by a flaming hand grabbing his neck and picking him up off the ground, while choking him so he couldn't even scream out in pain.

"Don't you ever speak ill of Happy!" shouted Natsu as he clenched his hand and broke the mage's neck. The other two dark mages were completely startled by all of this, somehow a man that was on death's doorstep seconds ago got up and snapped the neck of their friend in a matter of seconds. But that wasn't the only thing that startled them; Natsu's appearance had changed as well. All of his wounds were now sealed and only faint scars, but the thing that stood out the most was the scale pattern that formed under his eyes and on his forearms.

"You killed him." stated the dark mage that wasn't the leader.

"Yes I did what of it?" asked Natsu as he dropped the body to the ground as if it was just a piece of trash.

"You were from Fairy Tail, none of their mages kill anyone ever." stated the mage as he started to back away from him.

"That I was, but as you can see I am no longer a mage from there. Now to fulfill that promise I made to you earlier." he replied as he started to walk towards them with a sinister grin that allowed them to see his fangs that were longer than before.

"What promise?" asked the leader as he too started to back away from Natsu.

"That I would kill all of you if you hurt Happy of course." stated Natsu who then disappeared from their sight.

"Where the hell is he?" asked the leader as he scanned around. And once he got to where his friend was standing his eyes almost popped out of his head at what he saw. His friend was still standing there but his head had been twisted until he was looking directly behind him. The remaining dark mage watched as his friend's body fell over to reveal his face, which was that of complete horror. Almost as if he knew what was going to happen to him before it did.

"I told him that he was going to die like that." stated Natsu who was right behind the last dark mage who let out a scream.

"Just like I am telling you that you're going to be burned alive." continued Natsu as the dark mage then took off to anywhere but there. Only for the dark mage to receive a swift kick to his head and send him tumbling to the ground with Natsu towering over him.

"You're not getting away that easily." he said while glaring at the mage beneath him.

"Please have mercy Salamander." begged the mage.

"I'll show you the same type of mercy you showed me today, now burn in hell you bastard." he replied as he brought his foot down onto the mages chest as a pillar of red fire shot into the sky completely consuming them. Unfortunately for some of the dark mages there, this was when they happened to wake up. And they instantly heard the pain filled screams of the mage that Natsu had with him inside his pillar of fire.

They of course looked to the source of the screams and saw the red pillar of flames shooting into the sky. And in the middle of it was the outline of a man keeping another man pinned to the ground with his foot, with the one on the ground trying absolutely anything to get up and out of the fire. But the other figure seemed to have other ideas and kept him firmly in the middle of the fire. After a few moments the screaming and struggling stopped completely, once that happened the fire died down to reveal Natsu standing over top of a body charred so badly that there was no way to figure out who it had been before Natsu had his way with him.

"If any of you so much as moves from where you're at right now I will not hesitate to snap your neck." growled Natsu as he made his way towards Happy. Dreading what he was going to find once he got back to his best friend.

"Natsu?" asked Happy weakly.

"Yes Happy." replied Natsu now gently picking the little Exceed up.

"We'll still be able to go and visit Lisanna in a week, right Natsu?" asked Happy in a voice just barely above a whisper.

"Of course we will buddy; we can do anything you want. I just need to get you patched up first." said Natsu with a scared smile.

"Good, because that was my favorite spot too." said Happy.

"I thought it would have been the lake behind our old place." stated Natsu as he could hear Happy's breathing become shallower and labored. Pretty much confirming what he feared was going to happen when he first opened his eyes after not being hit by that spell from the shadow mage.

"Nope, that's the spot where we all became a family Natsu. So how could it not be my favorite spot?" asked Happy as his eyes started to flutter.

"Of course it is, it's mine too little buddy." he replied trying to not break down in Happy's last moments.

"Natsu could you get something out of my bag for me, wherever it is?" asked Happy, not realizing that it was still on his back.

"Sure thing Happy, it's still on your back like always. So what did you want…" he said as he took it off of him and saw that he still had his Fairy Tail emblem.

"I couldn't get rid of it Natsu, it's where we were all happy together." stated Happy as a few tears escaped his eyes, knowing that Natsu saw the emblem.

"It's okay buddy, I never wanted to take you away from there in the first place. So what did you want from your bag anyways?" asked Natsu with the best smile he could muster in this situation.

"The book, it's for you so you never forget." replied Happy with a smile.

"So I never forget what Happy?" he asked, knowing that Happy didn't have much time left.

"Promise me that you'll never forget Natsu." Happy struggled to say.

"Okay Happy, I promise I'll never forget but you still haven't told me what I'm not supposed to forget." he responded to his best friend's request.

"All of the good times." replied Happy with a bright smile as he closed his eyes for the last time.

"Please don't leave me Happy, without you I'm all alone." begged Natsu, hoping that some sort of miracle would happen for him. But he knew that nothing like that was going to happen, so he did the only thing that he could and let out a sorrowful roar that lasted for three minutes. And could be heard from miles away, after his roar Natsu cried while cradling Happy's body for the next ten minutes.

Not knowing what else to do Natsu set Happy down gently on the ground to see what book his best friend had to make sure he got before he passed on. It was surprisingly the only thing inside of Happy's bag except for fishing supplies and took up the vast majority of the space in the small bag. The front cover only had one word on it in green letters, which was family.

Opening it up gingerly Natsu realized that it was a scrapbook and the first picture was of him on his first day at Fairy Tail. So he continued to look through it and it proceeded to show more of his time at Fairy Tail like a timeline would. Always having a full page devoted to the important events like finding Happy's egg, his first time completing a job on a team and other things of that nature. By the end of it he was crying again and wished there were more to look through but ran into the blank pages. So out of curiosity he kept flipping through them and was surprised to find a page labeled return to Fairy Tail.

"Sorry buddy but I don't think that is ever going to happen now that you're gone. But I will remember the good times like I said I would and stop trying to forget them like I have been." stated Natsu to himself as he put the book back in Happy's bag.

"Now what should I do with all of you?" he asked while glaring at the dark mages that were still too injured fight.

"Turn us into the council." suggested one of the mages that woke up when Natsu was dealing with the last mage.

"I don't know if that is going to be enough. I should probably kill you all right now so you never harm another soul again." he replied with a sinister grin spreading across his face.

"Like someone crying over a stupid cat dying could actually kill someone." said one of the mages only to start screaming out in pain as he was set ablaze.

"He decided his fate after saying something as stupid as that while I could hear him." stated Natsu as the mage continued to scream out in pain as he was slowly being burned alive.

"Monster!" said most of the dark mages together as they looked at Natsu who was glaring at the man being burned alive. And you could see the pure hatred held for the mage in Natsu's eyes, which let all of them know right then and there that they needed to be careful or they would share the same fate.

"Well now that he's no longer with us I think I know what we're going to do." he said with a sinister grin.

"And what is that Salamander?" asked one brave dark mage in a scared tone.

"You are going to give me all of your possessions and then you're going to go to the nearest town and turn yourselves in. Actually you might not even have to do that since I assume the Rune Knights are probably already on their way here. Oh and if any of you try to escape or make a run for it I will hunt you down and rip out your throat, after which I'll burn you alive." stated Natsu as he glared at them.

"What?" asked one of them who was scared shitless right now.

"You fucking heard me, and if not then one of your buddies did. Oh and you better be quick about it otherwise I just might start killing you so I can leave sooner." he replied while continuing to glare at anyone brave enough to look at him.

"If I were you guys I would start moving now." shouted Natsu as he threw a fireball at the nearest dark mage. That instantly got the ones able to move to start taking all of their clothes off and making a pile in front of him.

"What about the ones still knocked out or too injured to move?" asked one of the dark mages standing in his boxers, which Natsu let them keep because he really didn't want to see that many naked mages standing together.

"I would suggest that you guys strip them down because you'll be the ones that I start killing first." replied Natsu as he started to rummage through the clothes for something he could wear. Needless to say the dark mages quickly did as he said and was done within the next five minutes, and by that time Natsu had a new outfit picked out.

He was now wearing black combat boots that went halfway up to his knees. Rather than his white baggy pants he had before he now had grey cargo pants that had plenty of pockets to store things. Going up he now decided to actually wear a shirt, which was a sleeveless black one. And over top of that he now had a new vest which was white with a red trimming. The last piece of clothing for his new outfit was a white leather coat that went all the way down to his knees, that has a red lining and a collar that was covered in red fur. On the side of each sleeve was a small pocket just under the shoulder and on the front of the coat was four more pockets with two on each side. The last thing that set this coat out from others was the emblem of two red daggers crossed on the back of it.

"So what do you guys think of my new look?" asked Natsu as he looked over at the cowering dark mages.

"Hey that's my coat." said one of them.

"If you want we could fight for it, but I for some reason think it'll probably end with you dying." replied Natsu as he glared at the mage that spoke up.

"No thanks it's all yours Salamander, and you look good in it." he replied nervously.

"Thanks, I think this will definitely work for me. Now pack up the rest of this stuff so I can go sell it. Oh and if any of you are trying to keep any of your jewels from me you can guess what my response to that would be." stated Natsu and was instantly given a large amount of jewels as the rest of the clothes were stuffed into two bags that could barely hold all of them.

"I would say it was nice seeing you but that would be a lie. So I guess I'll just leave you with a quick reminder, if I ever see any of you guys again you're dead which will also happen if you don't stay here for the next ten minutes. Since the Rune Knights should be here by then and have you all arrested." he said as he wrapped Happy in his scarf and then started to walk away from them.

And as soon as he was out of sight the Rune Knights appeared.

"What the hell happened here?" asked one of them since they didn't expect to find more than seventy people in nothing but their underwear.

"I don't want to talk about it." replied one of the dark mages.

"Well you're going to have to." stated the Rune Knight.

"Salamander happened." said a different dark mage.

"What?" asked the Rune Knight.

"We tried to kill him but failed and this was the result. And if we didn't turn ourselves into you guys he was going to hunt us down and kill us." explained one of the dark mages that was terrified of Natsu and didn't want to know if he was telling the truth about that.

"One mage was able to take all of you out?" asked a different Rune Knight.

"If you can actually call him just a mage." stated a mage.

"More like a monster." said a different one.

"Either way you're all under arrest." said the Commander of the Rune Knights as he made his way forward, as his knights went about putting all of them in cuffs.

"You're going to tell me exactly what happened here." demanded the Commander as he grabbed the mage that told them the most so far.

 **One week later in front of Lisanna's headstone on the hill overlooking Magnolia:**

Next to her headstone was a new one with a freshly dug grave in front of it. The new headstone was made out of the same type of stone as hers and looked identical in every possible way except for the inscription. Which read: _Here lies Happy the best friend anyone could have asked for. A caring and loving son. Who was able to bring a smile to everyone's face even in the darkest of times, and Fairy to the very end._

"We made it here in a week just like I said we would buddy." said Natsu while standing in front of the two headstones.

"I'm kind of a little jealous of you Happy, since now you get to spend all of your time with your mom." he said with a sad chuckle.

"Yeah that was a terrible joke that both of you would be yelling at me right now if either of you were here. But don't worry I'll keep on living for all three of us now, oh and thanks for the book Happy. I was a complete idiot for trying to forget all of that stuff Happy and I'll try to fill up the rest of the pages with new ones. But like I said to you before, I don't think I'll ever be able to return to Fairy Tail Happy." he said while running a hand through his hair.

"You're both probably asking why the hell not right now. And the answer to that is none of this ever would have happened if I wasn't kicked out of the guild. Yes I know I'm the idiot who went on that S-Class quest which caused me to get expelled but I still can't help but partially blame Makarov since he could have done something else. Oh and I know I'm being unreasonable about all of this but I can't change how I feel, which is why I don't think I'll ever join them again." he explained with a frown.

"Well I think I'll leave the two of you to catch up with each other since I still have to find some work. Hopefully Jose's job will be ready by the time I get there and he'll still want me to work for him." stated Natsu as he started to walk away from them.

"Shit I almost forgot to leave this like I planned." he said while coming back to them and kneeling down. He took off his scarf and tied one end of it to Happy's headstone and then did the same to Lisanna's with the other end.

"There, now it's like we're all still here and a family like you said Happy. But don't worry buddy I have something else that I cherish even more than that scarf now." he stated with a sad smile as he looked at his right arm that now had a green piece of clothing tied around it. With that said he then walked away from the memorial for his family and into the forest. In between the two headstones and directly underneath the scarf that was a little plaque. That was more of a warning which said: _Messing with any of this will result in your death. Natsu Dragneel._

 **At Fairy Tail:**

"Did you guys hear the big news about Natsu?" asked Jet after bursting through the front doors and receiving blank looks from the rest of the guild.

"From the lack of response it's safe to say that the answer to that would be no." replied Makarov with a slight grin.

"Well apparently he took out four dark guilds all by himself." stated Jet with a smirk.

"How the hell did Flame Brain accomplish that?" asked Grey.

"Obviously he did that because he's a real man!" shouted Elfman to only be hit by Mira meaning that he needed to keep quiet from here on out.

"They actually were trying to kill him and were working together to increase their chances. But that obviously didn't work out for them." replied Jet.

"When did this happen Jet?" asked Makarov.

"It happened a week ago Master, and I haven't even gotten to the best part yet." he stated with a big grin.

"And what would that be Jet?" asked Erza who was now right behind him and giving him a deadly glare.

"Well there was more than eighty of them and he decided to take all of their possessions before he had them turn themselves in." he answered nervously.

"Why would he do something like that?" asked Lucy.

"He probably did it since he was having a hard time getting jewels and sold them at the nearest town." stated Laxus from the second level with a smirk.

"I guess that explains it." replied Lucy with a little grin.

"Wait why was Natsu having a hard time making jewels, someone as skilled as him should have easily been accepted into another guild?" asked Erza with a confused look.

"Well you see Erza, the thing about that is." started Makarov.

"HAHAHA, Gramps you still haven't told her yet that Natsu has been rejected by all of the other guilds in Fiore?" asked Laxus still smirking.

"Is that true Master?" asked Erza as she glared at him.

"Yes it is Erza, but I only didn't tell you or Grey since you two would have tried to go out there and find him." explained Makarov with a frown.

"And why would you have wanted to stop us from doing that?" asked Grey with a pissed off look.

"He's no longer a member of our guild, which means he's not our responsibility anymore." he stated.

"But he's still our friend Master." said Erza with an angry look.

"Yes which is why you should have faith that he can take care of himself like he did. And I still hope that he'll prove to us that he's gotten more responsible and mature while he was gone, so that he can join us again." replied Makarov with a hopeful smile.

"You mean he could become a member again?" asked Grey with an actual smile.

"Of course he can, I'll always see Natsu as one of my children." he said.

"Even if he's killed people now Gramps?" asked Laxus with an eyebrow raised.

"That would depend on the circumstances Laxus, but it doesn't really matter since Natsu wouldn't kill anyone." he replied.

"Well that's where you'd be wrong Gramps. What Jet didn't tell you was that while taking out those four dark guilds he killed five of their members. And threatened to kill the rest if they didn't do exactly as he said, which was why they turned themselves in and didn't try to run." said Laxus, causing the whole guild to let out a shocked gasp.

"How do you know this is Laxus?" asked Makarov.

"I got to take a look at the official report the Council has on the incident." he stated.

"Why would Natsu do something like that?" asked Mira with a hand over her mouth.

"Apparently they were about to kill Natsu but his cat took the attack for him, which resulted in the poor little guy dying. And at that point he lost it according to the dark mages and killed anyone that so much as criticized the cat or harmed him in any way. So I guess you were wrong about him being fine Gramps, and I highly doubt he'd ever want to come back here after all of that." answered Laxus with an expressionless face. Because even Laxus felt sorry for Natsu since he knew how much Happy meant to him.

"Happy's dead?" asked Lucy almost in tears. Whereas Mira was already crying since she knew that not even Laxus would joke about something like this.

"Unfortunately yes he is blondie." replied Laxus with a slight frown as a few other members started to cry like Mira.

"We need to find Natsu now." declared Erza as she headed towards the exit.

"Wait a second Erza, Laxus why do you think Natsu won't want to return to us?" asked Makarov.

"I don't know maybe this little thing where he got kicked out of here and for some odd reason no other guild would accept him. And because of that the only family that he still had left died right in front of him after he took out more than eighty dark mages by himself. Which I will admit I don't even know if I could have done." answered Laxus while rolling his eyes at his grandpa.

"But we're still his family." stated Erza.

"I thought he made it pretty clear when he left that he no longer saw us that way. And even if he did before then I really doubt that he would now after what happened." said Laxus.

"Fuck, how did it come to this?" asked Grey with a frown.

"I'd say it all started when Gramps kicked him out, but that's just my opinion. Anyways me and the Thunder Tribe have a job to do." answered Laxus with a smirk before he disappeared in a bolt of lightning. Leaving the guild in a very depressed state with no one wanting to break the silence, or not even knowing what to say in a situation like this.

"I need to leave." stated Mira before she left through the back.

"This isn't your fault Master, whoever started those rumors are the ones to blame." said Lucy with a sad expression.

"If only that were true Lucy." mumbled Makarov to himself.

"I'm going to go check on Mira." stated Erza as she made her way towards the back exit.

"Do you even know where she went?" asked Grey with a solemn expression.

"I have a really good idea of where she'd go." replied Erza not looking back since she didn't want anyone to see that she was crying.

 **With Mira:**

"Why didn't you just stay Natsu?" asked Mira as she made her way up the hill.

"Because he felt like he didn't belong here anymore." replied Erza with a frown and causing Mira to jump back in shock.

"I didn't think anyone else was here." stated Mira as she continued on her trek up the hill with Erza.

"I wanted to make sure that you were okay Mira." said Erza as she looked at her old rival.

"I'm not the one you should be concerned about Erza, now he's completely all alone. And probably blaming himself for all of this, just like he did with Lisanna." replied Mira as they crested the hill and saw the new additions to the area. Both of them were too stunned by seeing them that they didn't speak for a while.

"He did this." stated Mira as she stood in front of Happy's grave.

"Yes and it looks like it was just recently done." replied Erza as she looked at the fresh grave and tracks leading away from it.

"Why didn't he tell us?" asked Mira as she touched his scarf. And could no longer keep herself from crying anymore.

"Probably because it hurt too much for him, or Laxus could be correct." replied Erza as she hoped Laxus was wrong.

"No he isn't Erza, if Natsu thought that way he wouldn't have brought Happy back." shouted Mira as she glared at Erza.

"I hope your right Mira, because he's definitely no longer the same after all of this." said Erza as she pointed to the plaque in between the headstones.

"And I'd help him with that." stated Mira as she looked out at Magnolia. The two of them stayed there not saying anything to each other for a half an hour. And after that they headed back to the guild to inform the rest of them what they found while they were out.

 **End of Chapter**

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Thanks for reading this story and please don't hate me for doing that to Happy. But for me at least that was the only way to have Natsu be a darker character and make sense since Happy can't help but make those around him happy. Well now that I got that out of the way I would like to thank you all already for the great support I am already receiving for this story, this community is really great. Okay a lot of people have asked what the pairing is going to be for this story and the answer to that is this one is going to be a harem story unless I get a lot of reviews against that idea. As for who I am planning on being in this harem, I am going to be going for the girls that have somewhat dark pasts or would be okay with Natsu being a dark person. And I know that here is a lot of possible candidates, so I am open to suggestions of who I should have in it. Oh and it's going to be a smaller harem than some I have read, I plan on it being six at the most but that could change to possibly more later on. So that's enough rambling by me, feel free to send me a review or pm and I'll try to reply back as soon as possible.**

 **Until the next Chapter**

 **Digem Out!**


	3. Beginning of a War

Ch 3: Beginning of a War

 **Jellal's office:**

"Come in." said Jellal while not looking up from his paper work.

"I didn't expect to see you doing paperwork at a time like this." stated Ultear with a sly grin as she closed the door behind her.

"And what did you expect to find me doing?" he asked with a slight grin as he looked up at her.

"I don't know, maybe doing a maniacal laugh while leaning back in your chair and having a drink." she replied while still grinning and taking a seat in one of the chairs in front of his desk.

"Oh you just missed all of that Ultear, if only you had stopped by five minutes earlier." he replied sarcastically while going back to his paperwork.

"I didn't know you could actually make a joke if it doesn't upset those old geezers that we work with." she said with a smirk.

"Well I obviously can Ultear, so what did you want?" asked Jellal while still going about his work.

"I just wanted to hear your thoughts on this whole Salamander thing, the rest of the Council doesn't seem to care as long as he doesn't destroy any public property or hurt any civilians. And if I'm remembering correctly you were concerned about him possibly being a problem after the Lullaby and Galuna Island incidents." stated Ultear as she looked around his office for the umpteenth time since they met there frequently.

"Of course they would only be concerned if his actions affect them directly, they have never been good at looking at the big picture. And as for Salamander being a problem, that was eliminated as soon as he got kicked out of Fairy Tail which was quite the unexpected turn of events there. That actually might help us more than we ever could have hoped for." he said now with a grin while no longer doing any paper work.

"Oh and how does this help you at all with completing the tower?" she asked with a skeptical look.

"You know that little problem I have with a rat being in the midst of my workers?" he asked with his grin only getting bigger.

"Yes, and you said that you were sure that he would be able to get some of the others to turn against you when you made your move on Erza Scarlet." she said, wondering how this had to deal with Natsu at all.

"Well I think Salamander might be the perfect solution to that little problem, but I would like to see a little more from him before I even try and make contact with him." he said.

"You still haven't really said what Salamander would be doing." she pointed out with a slight frown.

"If he turns into the man that I think he will, then he would be another perfect candidate to take out the trash in the tower. While also being able to stop any other unwanted guests that are bound to show up if we take Erza away from her precious guild." he replied with a chuckle before instantly going back to work.

"That he would, but don't you think that would be a waste given what he's capable of." she stated with a sly grin once again returning to her face.

"Maybe, but I don't really have anything else for him to do since the tower is almost complete." he said while not looking up from his work.

"I see, then I guess I leave you to your work." she stated before taking her leave. Ultear walked down the empty halls until she made it to her own office, which was almost identical to Jellal's expect for a few modifications that she made to it as soon as she got it. As she sat down in her chair she flipped a switch underneath her desk that activated some runes and caused a communication lacrima to come out of the middle of her desk.

"What is it Ultear, you weren't supposed to call for another week?" asked Hades as his face appeared after a few minutes of nothing happening.

"I know that Master, but I wanted to make sure that you knew about the developments at Fairy Tail." she stated with a sinister smile.

"Yes I have, but I don't see how one of Makarov's brats being kicked out is worthy of telling me about it." he stated with a glare.

"It isn't Master, but what he did just a week ago is." she replied still smiling at his projection.

"And what would that be exactly?" he asked with a slightly intrigued expression.

"Oh nothing much expect for taking down four dark guilds alone and at the same time." she answered happily.

"That's very impressive for someone that young Ultear, but it's still not something that you should have called me about." he said with a frown.

"But I haven't even gotten to the best part Master; he killed five of them and was going to do the same to the rest if they didn't do exactly as he said. Which means he is a perfect candidate to join our ranks and help bring about the Ultimate Magic World." she stated with a smile.

"That is very interesting indeed Ultear, but it doesn't mean that Fairy Tail's ideals aren't still ingrained into him. But after hearing this I think we should keep an eye on Natsu Dragneel and see if he might be of use to us." he replied while stroking his beard.

"And how would you want to go about that Master?" asked Ultear with a serious face.

"I think that you should be able to do that with all of the connections that you have there. But make sure that no one finds out about our interest in the dragon slayer." he said with a stern look.

"No worries Master, everyone here is completely unaware of who I actually am. And that even includes Jellal, who happens to almost be done with the tower." she replied with a grin.

"Oh about that Ultear, we found out that it isn't going to work. But rather than having you ruin your cover there I want you to still help Jellal with it since it'll keep the Council busy and distracted so we can continue to work in the shadows." said Hades with a grin.

"Yes Master, but why isn't it going to work?" asked Ultear.

"You can't bring someone back to life if they aren't dead." he said before he ended the call.

"He's still alive." she said in disbelief to herself.

"Well that is going to make everything a lot more interesting, which is something that you can't help but do as well Natsu Dragneel." she stated with a smile as she deactivated the runes and exited her office.

 **Two days later with Gajeel and Juvia:**

"That fucking bastard actually thought he could get away with trying to cheat us out of the full reward." said Gajeel with an angry expression.

"Juvia doesn't understand why some people would try and do that." stated Juvia with her pink umbrella overhead as the rain continued to constantly come down.

"Listen here Juvia, most people will try and take advantage of those that are weaker than them. Or in that guy's case, try and back out of a promise he made even though he could have fulfilled it right away. And he did that because he thought we were dumb enough to believe that sob story of his and let him cut the reward in half." he replied as they headed towards the town in the distance.

"Juvia wants to know if Gajeel is one of those people?" she asked while looking over at him.

"I'd have to say yes and no to that one." he replied with a grin.

"And why do you say that Gajeel?" she asked with a confused look on her face.

"Well you see Juvia; I will sometimes take advantage of people if they are dumb enough to fall for it. But most of the time I don't since that stuff bores me and I would much rather have a good fight with a worthy opponent. Also you would never catch me backing out on a promise like that guy tried Juvia because that is how a person keeps their honor, according to my old man at least." he answered while they continued towards the town.

"Juvia never hears you talk about him, why is that?" she asked with a slight smile.

"That would probably be because of him abandoning me like I was just a piece of trash." he replied in almost a growl.

"Sorry Gajeel, Juvia didn't know." she replied with a frown.

"No problem Juvia, I got over that old bastard years ago." he stated with a grin as they walked in silence for a few minutes.

"Gajeel, Juvia has a question for you." stated Juvia as they were only a little ways away from the town.

"And what would that be?" he asked.

"Why do you go on jobs with Juvia, when most people don't want to be in the rain all of the time?" she asked while looking him in the eyes.

"You're one of the few people in the guild that doesn't annoy me just by being around me like the rest of them. Also I know that I don't have to look after you since you're a strong mage that can take care of herself. As for the rain, it doesn't really bother me and I like it that most people head indoors while you're around." he stated while pointing to some people in the distance that were running into their homes to get out of the rain.

"Thanks Gajeel, but Juvia sometimes just wants to be with other people outside like everyone else." she replied with a sad smile as more people went indoors to get out of the rain.

"I think you're talking to the wrong person about this Juvia since I would rather not interact with other people unless it's absolutely necessary." stated Gajeel with a smirk.

"You're probably right, so when is the train supposed to leave?" asked Juvia with a slight smile since Gajeel actually didn't mind going on jobs with her.

"Within the next hour so we better hurry so I can try and get to sleep before it starts." he stated as they picked up their pace.

"Wait up Gajeel." said Juvia to only then run into pretty much the only person out in the streets right now.

"Woah there, you could accidentally hurt someone if you hit them like that." said the man as he offered her a hand to get up.

"Juvia is so sorry Sir." she apologized while giving a slight bow.

"Well that's a really funny way of introducing yourself." said the man with a grin that caused Juvia to have a slight blush. Because along with that grin of his, she could tell that underneath his white coat was a fit body that was obtained after hours of training and hard work. But the thing Juvia liked the most about the man was his pink hair that was still spiky despite the rain that always followed her around.

"It's just how Juvia has always talked." she said quietly while trying to hide her blush.

"Interesting, I like it Juvia since it makes you unique which is a good thing." he stated still grinning at her.

"Thanks Mr.?" asked Juvia with slight smile, hoping to find out who this stranger was.

"You can just call me Natsu since I already know your first name." he replied while running a hand through his hair.

"Okay Mr. Natsu, but Juvia could do with not being so unique." she replied with a slight frown.

"You don't need to say Mr. and why would you want that, if everyone was the same then life would be boring?" asked Natsu with a frown of his own.

"If Juvia was like everyone else then people wouldn't run away from her because of the rain." she said still frowning.

"Wait you're the cause for the sudden rain?" asked Natsu with an unreadable expression.

"Yes, and now you're probably going to want to get away from Juvia like everyone else." she said in sad tone and was about to turn around and leave him until he finally spoke.

"That is pretty impressive Juvia and if someone doesn't want to be around you because of a little rain. Then they aren't really worth being around in my opinion, and I actually like the rain. It makes the air have a fresh smell and also seems to calm everything else down." he said with a slight grin at the beginning that turned into a serious expression in the middle, then back into a smile at the end.

"Do you really mean that Natsu-san?" asked Juvia with a small smile as the rain started to let up slightly.

"Of course I do Juvia, but could I ask you a question?" he asked still grinning at her.

"Juvia would love to help Natsu-san." she replied happily.

"Which direction do I need to go to get to Oak Town from here?" he asked with a sheepish grin.

"You need to go that way, but you could just ride a train and be there in just a few hours." she answered as she pointed the direction that he had just come from.

"You've got to be kidding me I just came from there, and I don't like trains Juvia so I'll just stick with walking thank you. And since I have been going the wrong direction for the last two days I need to leave now or I'll never make it to Oak town in time. Oh and thanks for the help Juvia I would have kept going the wrong direction for who knows how long if it wasn't for you." said Natsu with a smile before he started to head the direction she pointed to.

"No problem Natsu-san, but Juvia is curious why you're heading to Oak Town since that is where Juvia's headed too." she said, causing him to stop.

"Well I guess I might just meet you there then Juvia, and I'm going there to hopefully find some work so wish me luck." he replied before heading off once again.

"I would like to meet you again Natsu-san." she said with a slight smile while heading towards the train station.

"There you are Juvia, I was starting to think I might have to go out and start looking for you." stated Gajeel as she entered the station.

"Sorry Gajeel, Juvia ran into someone on the way here and then talked with him for a while." she replied while still smiling from before.

"Interesting, you rarely smile and if I'm not mistaken the rain isn't coming down as hard." he said with a sly grin.

"That it is Gajeel, but what's your point?" she asked as he handed her a ticket.

"My point is that I think you like this new guy and the weather is getting better because of it." he replied still grinning at her.

"Shut up Gajeel, you have no idea what you're talking about." she said while looking away from him.

"If that's how you want to play it Juvia, then it's fine by mean. But I'm confident that ever since I've known you the rain has never been this light." stated Gajeel as he went into their compartment and laid down.

"Juvia's just happy Gajeel, that's all." she stated while taking the seat across from him.

"Whatever Juvia, just be careful with that guy. His scent is somehow familiar yet different at the same time, which is really hard to do so just be careful if you run into him again." he warned while closing his eyes.

"You can smell him?" asked Juvia with a shocked look.

"Yes, but just barely since you two didn't touch each other that much." he replied with a smirk that caused Juvia to become a bubbling mess and stop talking to him. So that he would fall asleep and she could have a peaceful ride like she usually did with him.

 **Four days later at Phantom Lord's main guild hall:**

"Is Master Jose around?" asked Natsu as he came into the guild hall like he owned the place.

"And who the hell is asking?" asked Gajeel as he got up from the bar and glared at this person that walked in here as if it was nothing.

"I don't see how that is any of your concern since this is between me and Jose." Natsu replied while glaring right back at him.

"Yes it is since no one gets to see him unless I say so." stated Gajeel with a grin as the rest of his guild started to mumbled about a fight possibly breaking out. And saying things like Natsu was an idiot for starting something with Gajeel, or that it he had no chance against a dragon slayer like Gajeel.

"Ah so you're Black Steel Gajeel, you've got quite the reputation." he stated now having a grin spread across his face.

"That I am, and since I still don't know who you are it looks like I'll have to beat it out of you." replied Gajeel while cracking his knuckles.

"Natsu-san, what are you doing here?" asked Juvia as she stepped in between the two of them.

"Hey Juvia, and I came here to see if Jose had some work for me. And I didn't know you were a mage of Phantom Lord." he responded with a slight smile.

"Oh so you're the guy that she met four days ago, sorry Juvia but I am going to have to beat some respect into your boyfriend." chuckled Gajeel as he made his way past her.

"Natsu-san isn't Juvia's boyfriend." she replied while trying to hide her blush.

"Sorry Black Steel, but I really doubt that's going to happen if I have anything to say about it. And it just so happens that I do." stated Natsu with a grin that made him look just a little crazy. Having heard enough Gajeel charged him ready to smash his face in, but a voice caused him to stop right before his hit would have landed.

"Enough you two, if everything goes like I planned then you two will be working together shortly." said Jose as he came down from his office with his usual grin on.

"What the hell Master, I was just about to teach this stranger a little respect." stated Gajeel with a glare sent at his Master.

"From what I could tell Salamander was about to beat the shit out of you Gajeel, so you should be thankful that I came when I did." stated Jose as he glared right back at him.

"Like Hell he was, Master!" growled Gajeel through clenched teeth.

"I would usually let you two have a fight but I would really prefer to not lose you Gajeel before the real fighting even starts. So Salamander if you could give Gajeel a demonstration of your power that would be really appreciated since I don't want the two of you fighting?" asked Jose with a smile.

"Sure, but I think we should probably head outside unless you want half your guild hall destroyed." he replied with a smirk.

"I definitely don't want that Salamander, so let's head outside." said Jose as they then went out the front doors.

"I take it there isn't anything important in those ruins over there?" asked Natsu as he looked back at Jose.

"Nope, and they are kind of an eyesore that I've been meaning to get rid of." he answered with a grin since he knew where Natsu was going with this.

"Alright then Jose, this will be a freebie but everything after this will cost you." said Natsu with a grin on his face as red fire now covered both of his hands as he started to build up the spell.

"What is Natsu-san talking about Gajeel?" asked Juvia since Jose hadn't told the rest of the guild about his brilliant plan involving Natsu.

"Salamander is going to be working with us for a bit." he replied while slightly being startled at how much magic power was emanating from Natsu right now.

 **"FIRE DRAGON'S BRILLIANT FLAME!"** shouted Natsu as he threw a giant ball of fire at the ruins. All of Phantom Lord watched as a huge explosion took out all of the ruins and left a large crater where they once stood. After seeing a move that strong they all looked at Natsu expecting to see a tired mage, but were shocked to see him standing there completely fine. Looking as if what he just did was a common occurrence for him that bordered on the line of boring.

"You definitely have a gift at destruction Salamander." chuckled Jose as he looked at all of his shocked mages, especially Gajeel whose mouth was still open in shock.

"So I've been told Jose, but let's get straight to business if we could?" asked Natsu as he and Jose headed back into the guild hall that was completely empty at the moment.

"I'm fine with that Salamander, but might I ask what happened to you since the last time we met?" asked Jose with a concerned expression. When actually all he wanted to do was smile at Natsu since he knew exactly what happened and couldn't be happier with the results. Since everything was going according to his plan right now, actually better than he could have hoped for since Natsu killed a few of the dark mages that attacked him two weeks ago.

"I know you've heard about it by now Jose, it spread faster than me getting kicked out of Fairy Tail." he replied in a harsh tone.

"Sorry Salamander, but I wanted to hear your side of it since you know how rumors are." said Jose now having a normal expression on his face.

"Let's just say I was reminded once again how cruel life can be." he stated as they went into Jose's office.

"That it can Salamander, which is why I think you'll like the job I have for you." responded Jose as he took a seat in his chair while Natsu took one of the two across from him.

"So what's the job?" asked Natsu not really caring about what Jose thought and just wanted to know what it was.

"I would like you and Gajeel to head over to Magnolia and destroy the guild hall of Fairy Tail." he replied with a huge grin.

"Alright but I expect to get paid before I do it since this won't be looked kindly upon by the Council or Fairy Tail. And I would really hate it if you tried to back out of paying me and place the blame on me instead." stated Natsu with a neutral expression, which is not what Jose expected to hear or see.

"Fine, but aren't you curious why I want you to do this or why I thought you'd like it?" he asked, since the reaction he was receiving from Natsu right now was the last thing he ever could have predicted.

"No not really. I'd assume you are doing this to start a war with Fairy Tail and hopefully get them disbanded. And you thought I might want to get back at them for what happened to me after getting kicked out, but I don't and couldn't care less what happens to that guild." answered Natsu with slight grin.

"I'm surprised to hear you say all of that, but I guess it works all the same for me. So how does one hundred thousand jewels sound to you Salamander?" asked Jose as he got out some jewels and started to count them.

"Just enough to get me to do that but nothing more." he replied with an expressionless face.

"I think this might be the starting of great partnership Salamander." said Jose with a wicked grin as he handed Natsu the jewels.

"We'll see about that Jose, so when do you want us to do it?" he asked while counting the jewels for himself.

"Tomorrow night since I know you prefer to not use trains unless you have to, oh and if you could leave something to let them know it was from us that'd be great." answered Jose.

"Alright, me and Black Steel will head there tonight so we can scope it out." stated Natsu as he got up.

"That sounds like a good plan Salamander, and if you could send Gajeel up here that would be greatly appreciated since I want to make sure he knows the plans as well and doesn't do something stupid." he said with a smile.

"Sure thing Jose and I'll stop by to pick him up when I'm ready." replied Natsu while opening the door.

"You know you could just stay here Salamander." he stated, hoping that Natsu would take him up on his offer.

"Thanks Jose, but I have some other things to take care of." responded Natsu as he left the office. Leaving Jose alone in his office only for a minute until Gajeel walked in with a still slightly surprised expression on his face.

"Salamander said you wanted to talk with me Master." said Gajeel while taking a seat.

"Yes, it's about having both of you heading over to Fairy Tail and destroying their precious guild." said Jose with a smirk.

"And Salamander was okay with that?" asked Gajeel.

"That he was, unfortunately he didn't want to do it for revenge like I wanted. But after our little chat it seems like he'll do almost anything as long as he's given enough jewels, and it would seem that he doesn't plan to do anything for free either." he replied.

"Okay, but do I still get to fight him after all of this?" asked Gajeel with an uneasy look.

"You can if you still want to, but I would prefer that if you must that it was more of a friendly fight than we initially planned. Because it's never a bad thing to have a mage as strong as him, to call in for support or to do the things that we don't feel like doing." he answered while looking out his window.

"I think that might be wise after witnessing his power just a bit ago. And I am assuming that you also wanted to tell me to behave while we're out together?" he asked while taking in the thoughtful look that Jose had right now.

"That and if you don't think destroying their guild hall will get them to attack then you are free to do whatever needs to be done the next night." answered Jose.

"Is Salamander going to stick around for that?" asked the iron dragon slayer as he made his way towards the exit.

"That's up to him, but be sure to tell him that we would like to hire his services for the upcoming festivities." replied Jose while he continued to look outside in thought.

"Will do Master, and I am confident that I can get them to declare war on us." he said with a confident grin.

 **With Natsu after leaving Jose's Office:**

"Hey Black Steel, Jose wants to talk with you." stated Natsu as he descended the stairs.

"Thanks Salamander." replied Gajeel as he made his way up there.

"You never told Juvia that you were a mage Natsu-san." said Juvia with a bright smile as she got in front of him.

"Well you didn't either Juvia, but hey it looks like we did get to meet each other again." he replied with a slight grin.

"If you want, Juvia could show you around the guild?" she asked nervously, but before he could respond a different member of Phantom Lord decided to ask him a question.

"Hey Salamander why don't you come and have a drink with us, and you could tell us about that weak guild you used to belong to." said a mage at the bar.

"Sorry but I don't feel like it." stated Natsu with a blank face.

"See what did I tell you guys once a weak Fairy always a weak Fairy, and he's already friends with Juvia who would fit right in with all of those freaks at Fairy Tail. I can't wait for Gajeel to beat the shit out of him once we're done with Fairy Tail." said the mage as Natsu slowly made his way towards him undetected since his back was to him.

"What was that you just said?" asked Natsu now right behind the man with a glare that could kill a man.

"You heard exactly what I said Salamander." replied the man with a smirk as he turned around and looked at him.

"Well that's great to know I wasn't miss hearing anything." he replied with a crazed grin.

"And why would say that?" asked the man, only for a flaming fist to hit him square in the face.

"Because I can now do this to you and know it was completely justified." shouted Natsu as he continued to punch the man in the face.

"First off I never want to be called a Fairy ever again!" he shouted while throwing the mage onto the floor. Causing the mage to now be on his stomach and Natsu holding his arm straight back and keeping him down with one foot.

"Secondly if you talk shit about one of my few remaining friends again I will make your life a living hell!" he said while bringing down his foot onto the man's arm and almost breaking it clean off. As the rest of the guild watched, too shocked by all of this to even move or say something.

"And lastly, I will gladly fight Black Steel any time he wants and I'll make what I just did to you look like the work of a child." he growled while breaking one of the mages knees and then kicking him across the guild.

"Let that be a fucking lesson to the rest of you." he said back to the whole guild that was looking at him with wide eyes as one of their members was screaming out in pain on the other side of the guild.

"So Juvia as I was going to say before that asshole cut in, I would gladly do that with you, but unfortunately I have a few other things that I need to do first. How about you take me on that tour of yours in a few hours after I've tied up a few loose ends?" he asked her with a grin. That made it look like he didn't just savagely beat a mage just moments ago.

"Juvia would love to Natsu-san." she replied with a slight blush, because Natsu said that they were friends. And she couldn't help but like what he just did since he did some of that for her, because the guy was saying that she was a freak. Even though she had gotten used to people saying that about her, it was nice that Natsu would stick up for her and try to stop if from ever happening again.

"How does five hours sound for meeting back here?" Natsu asked still grinning at her.

"Juvia thinks that will work for her." she replied while still blushing

"Well I'll see you then Juvia." he replied and left the guild that was still completely stunned by what he did.

"What the hell is going on down here?" asked Gajeel as he came out of Jose's office, not even caring that one of his guild members was screaming out in pain.

"Salamander." stated one of the members while not being able to control herself from shivering at just saying his name.

"And why the hell did he beat the shit out of him?" he asked while pointing at the mage that still wasn't receiving any help from his friends.

"Natsu-san didn't like being called a weak Fairy or him saying that Juvia was a freak." answered Juvia with a slight smile that Gajeel noticed but decided to ignore.

"Damn, seems like me and Salamander have more things in common than I originally thought." he said with a grin while taking a seat at the bar.

"That's not the only reason why Natsu-san did this." said Juvia nervously since she didn't want her two friends to start fighting each other.

"What else set Salamander off?" asked Gajeel as he there a few bolts into his mouth and started to chew.

"Natsu-san didn't like it when he said that you were going to beat the shit out of him once he was done helping us. Natsu-san said back that he would happily challenge you anytime and make what he did here look like child's play." she answered with a nervous smile as Gajeel finally looked at the screaming mage. Who according to Natsu would be something that Gajeel would be hoping to have done to him if they got into a real fight.

"Don't worry Juvia; I don't plan on fighting Salamander anymore since Master wants to keep using his services in the future. But if we did I know that he would be the one to end up like him." he replied with a grin as he gestured over to the mage still screaming out in pain. But on the inside Gajeel was glad that he didn't have to back up his words since Natsu actually scared him after showing off what he could do, and how he apparently wasn't opposed to killing anymore or even harming someone just for upsetting him.

"Good, because Juvia didn't want to watch her friends fighting each other." she said happily as most of the guild started to wonder why two of the strongest people they know are her friends. And both of them are also dragon slayers that have no problems with hurting others over little things that most would just laugh off.

 **The next night outside of Fairy Tail:**

"How much longer until she leaves?" asked Gajeel from the top of a roof that they have been waiting on for the past three hours.

"She'll be leaving in just ten minutes." replied Natsu who was sitting on the edge with his feet dangling over it.

"And why the hell does she stay two hours longer than anyone else?" he asked in a bored tone.

"Mira cleans up after everyone else and then gets things ready for the next day." he answered with a grin as he looked at his fellow dragon slayer.

"Would you please stop grinning at me like that Salamander, it seriously creeps me out. It makes me feel as if you are taking me a part, piece by piece." stated Gajeel as he glared at him.

"Who says I'm not imagining doing that very thing to you Black Steel?" he asked back still grinning at him like a mad man.

"Christ you are crazier than I thought you would be." stated Gajeel.

"And those are the ones you need to keep an eye on, oh and it looks like she's leaving early." he replied while getting up off of the ledge.

"Alright, that just means we can start having some fun sooner than we planned." said Gajeel as a grin made its way across his face.

"That it does, but where is she going?" asked Natsu as he watched Mira head in the opposite direction of her home.

"Why does it matter Salamander, we only need her to not be here." he stated.

"I'm going to follow her and see what she's up too." stated Natsu as he jumped to the roof of the next building over and started to follow her.

"Is she your ex-girlfriend or something, if so Juvia is going to be really disappointed?" asked Gajeel with a smirk.

"She's not my girlfriend Black Steel, and she's completely off limits during this whole thing of yours." growled Natsu as the continued to trail her.

"Sorry Salamander but you never know what will happen in war." he replied with a smirk that was instantly lost when something extremely hot grabbed his throat.

"You're right Black Steel, a lot of things can happen in war such as a certain mage going missing to never be seen or heard from again. Which is guaranteed to happen to any Phantom Lord mage that so much as touches her, do I make myself clear?" asked Natsu with a choking Gajeel in his grasp who could only nod his head in response. After being dropped onto the roof, Gajeel made a note to never let his guard down again while in the presence of Natsu.

"I read you loud and clear Salamander." he coughed out.

"Good and you better let the rest of your guild know because I would hate to have to take out more of your guild members." replied Natsu as they continued to follow Mira through the town.

"You know Phantom Lord and more specifically Master Jose don't like being threatened." stated Gajeel as he slightly glared at the back of Natsu's head.

"Who said it was a threat Black Steel, it was a promise and I assume you know how serious promises are to dragons." he replied while not even looking back at the iron dragon slayer, who now knew to not touch Mira even if Jose commanded him to.

"So that's where you're headed." stated Natsu with a slight grin that actually looked warm after following Mira to the edge of town.

"And where would that be Salamander?" asked Gajeel.

"To visit the grave of her sister, so you can head back to their guild and get started without me. And don't worry I'll be there to add my own touch and make sure I earn my pay." said Natsu as he hopped down from the building and started to casually walk out of the city.

"You're something else Salamander." stated Gajeel as he watched the mage.

"I heard that." replied Natsu.

"So what Salamander, you can bite me for all I care." said Gajeel, now wondering why he was even putting up with Natsu.

"That might happen sooner than you think Black Steel, and apparently my fangs are pretty sharp." stated Natsu as he gave Gajeel another grin that creep the man out. Only to turn around and head out into the woods that were on the outskirts of Magnolia.

 **At Natsu's memorial for his lost family:**

"Hi Lisanna and Happy, thought I would stop by and tell you what happened today at the guild. It was another quiet day again with barely anything happening at all, since we still haven't found Natsu yet. That's probably because the usual trouble makers like Grey and Erza are out there looking for him every day, even Lucy has been going out with them to try and find him." said Mira with a sad smile while kneeling before them.

"You two were the ones that he was the closest to and would have probably found him just after a day of searching for him. But just like Igneel, the only other person he truly cared about as much as you two, you were both taken away from him way too soon. Why would something so terrible keep happening to someone as kind and caring as him?" she asked now crying in front of the two headstones.

"What did he do to deserve something like this, because if he actually does deserve this then so does everyone else." shouted Mira into the skies in frustration as she continued to cry.

"I can only imagine how hard all of this is on him right now. He's probably blaming himself once again for something he never could have seen coming. I am really concerned about him now Lisanna and Happy, you two were always his voice of reason when he got too worked up. And I know that you would have loved to hear that earlier Happy, because you would have teased Natsu about it forever. But now that he doesn't have either of you with him I don't know what he'll do." she stated with a frown as she wiped away a few tears.

"He's already done something that I already told you two about earlier, which I know he never would have done if either of you were still with him. And it concerns me because I don't know what he'll continue to do without either of you or Fairy Tail supporting him. Which is why we need to find him and bring him back to Fairy Tail before he does something even worse." she said as she got up and dusted herself off.

"I know that you two are still watching over him and trying to keep him out of trouble. But if you two could try and bring him back to the rest of us I'd really appreciate it since Fairy Tail seems empty and cold without you three there to brighten up everyone else's day. Well I'll come visit you two tomorrow night and try to have happier news to report, bye Lisanna and Happy." said Mira with a faint smile as she then headed back towards town.

"Sorry Mira, but I won't be coming back anytime soon and I hope you understand why I can't." thought Natsu as he dropped from a nearby tree and walked towards the headstones and stopped right in front of them.

"Looks like she's keeping you both clean while I'm gone. And if you two can both actually hear me right now, then please do whatever you can to help Mira right now. I can take care of myself like I always have, and I know I'll be fine given enough time. Just like I was able to somewhat get over Igneel leaving me, even though it took a few years. But like I said, it'll only take some time for me. Mira on the other hand could really use your help since things are only going to get worse for her and the rest of Fairy Tail." said Natsu with a sad grin as he looked at the graves of the two most important people to him besides Ingeel.

And he couldn't help but wonder why this kept happening to him, did he do something to prevent himself from ever having a happy life. These were the type of thoughts that were going through his head as he made the trip back to the guild hall. That now thanks to Gajeel had iron poles sticking out of it in every direction and looked like it might collapse any minute now.

"Took you too long Salamander, I've already finished the job without you." stated Gajeel with a smirk.

"That's quite impressive Black Steel, but I think I can make it even better. But if I do that then we might have to make a quick escape since it will get the attention of a few people." replied Natsu with a sinister grin on his lips.

"Wait a minute Salamander, we need to stick around and make sure that Fairy Tail declares war on my guild." said Gajeel with a serious expression.

"If that's the case then you should leave now so no one suspects you. And I'll do what I planned and meet up with you sometime tomorrow after I'm sure no one followed me." stated Natsu as he cracked his knuckles.

"Fine Salamander, but how do you plan to find me?" asked Gajeel to only receive a blank stare from Natsu. That pretty much asked are you fucking joking Gajeel, did you really just ask that?

"Shut the hell up Salamander, I don't want to hear a word." he said as he started to walk down a street away from the wrecked guild hall.

"Didn't say anything Black Steel." said Natsu with a smirk now on his face as Gajeel disappeared down the street.

"I've always kind of wanted to do this." stated Natsu as he headed into the guild hall with a devious look in his eyes.

 **The next morning with Lucy:**

The day started out like any other day for her, she got up and took a shower. After which she got dressed and made herself some breakfast that she ate while she worked on her book. She worked on her book until it became ten in the morning, which was the time that she always headed over to the guild at to look for a job that would help them look for Natsu.

But unlike most days while walking to the guild she was constantly stared at with eyes that she could only describe as full of pity. This only caused her to pick up her pace and try to get to the guild where she knew they would no longer look at her that way. As she rounded the corner to the guild her heart jumped into her throat at what she saw, and finally told her why everyone was looking at her that way.

The guild hall that Lucy now considered home was completely wrecked. The whole front of it was gone and the parts that remained had iron poles smashed through them. But what shocked her the most was that these iron poles where all warped or melted slightly, which happened from whatever most likely destroyed the front of the guild and started fires everywhere else that she only knew were there thanks to the scorch marks. As she looked at these marks she noticed that the ones on the back wall looked as if they were purposely left there since they made a weird emblem that looked familiar to her.

"They got us pretty good." said Mira causing Lucy to let out a little yep while jumping away from her.

"Don't sneak up on someone like that Mira, and who would do something like this?" asked Lucy with a sad look on her face as she gestured to the guild.

"Phantom Lord and most of the guild is in the basement right now." replied Mira with a frown.

"Why would they do something like this to us?" she asked while following Mira to the basement.

"We've always had somewhat of a rivalry with them, but this is the first time that they've ever done something like this." answered Mira as she opened the basement door and was instantly greeted with the sounds of people in a heated argument.

"For the last time you two we aren't going to retaliate." said Makarov as he looked at Erza and Grey with an upset look on his face.

"So we're just going to sit back like we did with Natsu and wait for it to only get worse?" asked Grey as he glared at his Master.

"Grey no one could have seen what happened to Natsu coming." he stated with a frown.

"Except for you Master, you knew that someone was behind those rumors getting out and none of the other guilds accepting him. But you kept that information from us until it was too late and Happy died, there is no way in hell that I'm going to let that happen again!" shouted Grey.

"Grey you need to calm down." said Erza with a frown.

"Calm down? I know you're just as angry as me about all of this Erza. And we need to show Phantom that we won't let things like this happen without retaliation." he declared.

"Grey you need to think about this with a clear mind, if we go and destroy their guild hall it will only escalate things more. And that will only lead to a fight breaking out between our two guilds, which is prohibited by the Council and will only result in one or both of the guilds being disbanded." explained Makarov still frowning.

"Well they started it Master, so they are the ones that the Council would disband. I'm confident that they wouldn't want to lose their two strongest guilds at once." he stated.

"You're correct about the Council not wanting to lose two guilds Grey, but we can't be sure that Phantom would be the guild to get disbanded if we attacked them now." said Makarov with a stern look.

"Why the hell wouldn't they be the ones that get disbanded, they attacked us first?" he asked loudly.

"Because Grey there is no proof that they were the ones who did all of that up there." stated Erza with an angry expression as she finally pieced together why Makarov was so against attacking them.

"What do you mean no proof they left their emblem burned into the side of the wall? Not to mention that I am confident that Black Steel Gajeel is the only mage able to do something like that with those poles." he argued.

"And none of that Grey is actually proof since no one witnessed any of them doing it. For all we know those things were intentionally done to make us think it was Phantom Lord." explained Erza with Makarov nodding his head in agreement.

"But no one else would do something like this." said Grey, knowing that he lost this argument already.

"True, but that won't matter when we can't prove it Grey. So as I said earlier no one is to retaliate against Phantom Lord, besides it was just a building that can be rebuilt. We were lucky that they waited until it was empty to attack, which only shows that they are too cowardly to actually face us head on." replied Makarov with a slight grin.

"Fine Master, but I still think we should hit them hard before they know we're coming for them." he said with an angry expression since he really just wanted to hit something. Grey then took a seat at the makeshift bar as everyone else started to converse with each other about what happened last night and the little debate that they all just watched.

"Do we know who else was with Black Steel Gajeel?" asked Levy with a concerned look.

"No we don't Levy, but whoever it was is definitely a really strong fire mage to actually start melting those iron pillars like that." replied Erza as she had a thoughtful look on her face.

"Could it have been their fire mage from the Element Four?" asked Mira with her usual smile as she gave Erza a slice of strawberry cheesecake.

"I was thinking that too, but from what I know of the man he doesn't have that amount of power." stated Erza while shaking her head, then happily digging into her slice of cake.

"What is the Element Four, and who is Black Steel Gajeel?" asked Lucy as she took a stool next to Grey.

"They're the equivalent to our S-Class mages Lucy, and as their name suggests they each specialize in one of the four basic elements." explained Mira still smiling.

"So they're as strong as Erza and Laxus?" asked Lucy now slightly afraid of running into any of these mages.

"They're nowhere near those two Lucy, but I'd say that they are right under them." said Grey with a slight grin.

"What about Black Steel Gajeel?" asked Lucy as she looked to Mira who instantly lost her smile.

"He's their guild's dragon slayer and is stronger than any of the element four." explained Levy with a frown, since she like the rest of them couldn't help but think of Natsu whenever someone said dragon.

"I can guarantee that if Flame Brain was here he would have been right there with me, wanting to show Phantom that we're not to be messed with. And I bet he would have put Black Steel Gajeel in his place for what he did to our guild hall." stated Grey with a slight smile as he imagined it.

"Yeah, and he probably would have even gone there by himself and exploded right through the front of their guild to do it." said Mira with a little giggle.

"Wait a minute, no he'd never do that would he?" asked Lucy out loud as she just thought of something.

"What are you talking about Lu-chan?" asked Levy with a bright smile.

"Never mind it was a stupid idea that just popped into my head." replied Lucy dismissively while waving her hands at the idea.

"Now I'm really interested." stated Mira with a big smile.

"Okay Lucy, tell us what you were thinking about." said Erza in a way that made it feel like that was Lucy's only option in this situation.

"Fine but you're all going to just say that it was a stupid thought. But what if Natsu was the person that helped Gajeel trashed our guild hall, he definitely is the strongest fire mage I know. And if Laxus is right about him no longer seeing us as family he might even see us as enemies right now." answered Lucy with a sad smile as the rest looked at her with stunned looks.

"There is no way he would do something like this." stated Erza, hoping that she was correct about that statement.

"Yeah Lucy, he's an idiot most of the time but he wouldn't do something like this just to get some revenge." said Grey as Mira and Levy both just remained silent after hearing Lucy's thought.

"And that's why I didn't want to tell you guys about it, because I also don't think he would do something like this either." stated Lucy with a slight smile.

"Well since Master said we can't retaliate against Phantom do you two want to go on another job and start looking for Ash Breath again?" asked Grey as he looked at Lucy and Erza.

"Sure, that was my original plan before I saw the guild." replied Lucy.

"It's better than just sitting down here." stated Erza as they headed to Makarov to get a job.

"Master we'd like a job." said Lucy with a bright smile.

"Sorry, but no one is going out on any jobs as of right now." stated Makarov after taking a big swig out of his mug.

"Why the hell not?" asked Grey, whose temper was even shorter than before.

"Because we still don't know why Phantom did all of this, which is also why I want all of you to stay in groups when you leave here. We don't know if they're still in town and staying in groups should deter them from trying anything." he replied loud enough for the rest of the guild to hear.

"Then what the hell are we supposed to do Master?" asked Grey as he glared at him.

"Drinking is always a fun option." he said with a big grin.

"Here's to that Master!" cheered Cana before she started to drink straight from one of her barrels. And just like that the mood at Fairy Tail brightened to the point that you wouldn't think that their guild hall was completely ruined last night.

"Looks like Master was right, they need a little more encouragement to start this war." said Gajeel with a wicked grin as he went back into the ally that he was listening from.

 **Later that night:**

"Levy are you sure you don't want to just stay at Fairy Hills with all of the other girls?" asked Jet as they walked down the street.

"Positive Jet, besides I have you two to protect me." stated Levy as she smiled at her two teammates.

"Levy you're the best!" cheered Droy.

"Thanks Droy, but Team Shadow Gear can do anything when we work together." she replied with a proud grin.

"You know it Levy, and what's up with the lights ahead of us?" asked Jet as he noticed all of the street lights in front of them were out.

"I don't know, but we're only five blocks away from your place so we should be fine." said Levy as she couldn't help but feel like they were being watched.

"Are you sure about that little Fairy, because a lot can happen in the dark?" asked someone who was leaning against one of the lampposts.

"Who are you and what do you want?" asked Jet as he and Droy got into their fighting stances.

"I'm just someone who wants to have some fun with a few little Fairies while I pluck their wings." replied the figure as he opened his eyes that were red and gave them a sinister grin.

"Get behind us Levy we'll handle this guy." stated Droy as he got in front of her.

"I hope you three can make this interesting for me." said the figure before dashing straight at the two male mages and hitting them to the side.

 **"SOLID SCRIPT: FIRE!"** shouted Levy as the flaming word shot from her and hit their attacker and allowed all of them to see who it was. All of them instantly knew they were in trouble when they recognized their attacker to be none other than Black Steel Gajeel.

"From the looks on all of your faces I'd say that you three know of me or at least my reputation." said Gajeel with a grin as he brushed off some of the ash left from Levy's attack.

 **"KNUCKLE PLANT!"** shouted Droy as he threw seeds at Gajeel's feet. That instantly turned into plants in the shape of clenched fists that launched straight at Gajeel, who easily cut them down with his arm that was now a black sword.

"Is that the best you got?" he asked as he started to chuckle.

"Not even close." said Jet as he took off to only appear right behind Gajeel and brought a hard kick down onto the dragon slayer. But once again right before it landed Gajeel managed to grab Jet's ankle while his grin only got bigger.

"Too slow, and if that's all your little team has to offer I'm going to be bored after just a minute." he said before kicking Jet into a nearby building.

 **"SOLID SCRIPT: LIGHT!"** shouted Levy as a bright flash of light blinded Gajeel, allowing the other two mages to land the attacks that failed them before.

"So she's the one that actually has some talent and is just keeping you two idiots around as muscle." he stated while cracking his neck and rolling his shoulders.

"That's not why we're on a team together!" she shouted as she glared at him.

"Then enlighten me little Miss Fairy." he said with a grin.

"We're on a team together because we're friends. **SOLID SCRIPT: STONE!** " she declared as the stone word flew at Gajeel who just punched right through it as if it was nothing.

"We'll see how much of friends they are after I'm done with all of you." said Gajeel as he charged at the group once again.

 **Seven minutes later:**

"Damn, you two really don't know when to stay down." stated Gajeel as he kicked Droy into Jet who was trying to stand back up again.

"Why are you even doing this?" asked a bruised and beaten Levy who was finding it hard to remain standing.

"There are a few reasons little fairy." he replied.

"Such as?" asked Levy hoping that she could keep him talking until someone from the guild came to help them.

"First off because I can and find doing stuff like this entertaining. But the real reason I am doing this is because my Master told me that I had to get you weak Fairies to attack us. And what we did to your guild last night didn't seem to do the trick which takes us to this moment." he answered while punching Jet in the face, which put him down for the count like the pervious kick did for Droy.

"How can doing something like this be fun?" she asked while glaring at him.

"You probably wouldn't understand since you've never had to work just to stay alive. If you had you'd know that the only thing that matters is power, and with that you are allowed to do whatever you want. And that would include letting others know how far beneath you they are, which is exactly what I'm doing now." he said only to punch her in the gut and send her into a tree since during the course of their fight they happened to move into the park.

"You know nothing about me." she coughed out while staggering to her feet and glaring at him again.

"You're right but it doesn't really matter since I'm going to win this. But I need to make sure that your stupid Master attacks our guild after finding your team. So do you think he'd be upset enough to attack if I broke all of your arms and legs?" asked Gajeel with a smirk that told her he would actually do it.

"You're a monster." stated Levy as she took a step back from him and fell to the ground.

"Nope, I just really enjoy my work. So which arm should I start with first?" he asked while grinning at her.

"You might not be monster Black Steel, but the same can't be said for me." said Natsu as he walked up to the two of them with a prominent frown.

"Natsu, thank god you're here!" said Levy as a wave of relief washed over her.

"Geehee, I think you might have the wrong idea here little fairy. Salamander is working with us now and even helped me destroy that shit hole you call your guild hall." said Gajeel with a smirk as Levy's face turned to that of horror. Not wanting to believe that Natsu would do something like that and would actually work with someone like Gajeel.

"Natsu is that tr…" started Levy but was shocked to see Natsu take Gajeel to the ground in one swift movement. That resulted with him holding one of Gajeel's arms behind the dragon slayer's back and applying as much pressure as possible to it but still not break it.

"What the fuck Salamander?" growled out Gajeel in pain. Once again pissed at himself for letting his guard down around Natsu after he decided to never do it again the other night.

"I should fucking break this arm clean off right now Black Steel after hearing that." growled Natsu as he applied even more pressure causing Gajeel to hiss out in pain.

"But I won't since I think Jose would be upset with me if I took out one of his best fighters. But it would be better than him loosing you for good which would have happened if I let you continue with your plans." stated Natsu while still having Gajeel pinned on the ground with Levy watching from a distance slightly confused at what was happening.

"What the fuck are you talking about Salamander?" asked Gajeel who wanted to be let go of.

"Are you really that ignorant when you're fighting?" asked Natsu as he once again applied more pressure.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." replied Gajeel angrily.

"I guess you are, if you went through with your fucking idiotic plan you would have killed those two over there. And I assume you know what would have happened to you if you did that?" asked Natsu as he let Gajeel back up while glaring at him.

"Shit, how the hell were they even able to fight to that point?" asked Gajeel as he looked over at Droy and Jet with a little respect for the two of them.

"I'd say that it's kind of a Fairy Tail thing, and you were also trying to hurt the one thing that they both care about the most in the world." he explained while having a slight grin on his face while now looking at Levy.

"Natsu, why are you doing this?" asked Levy as she was finding it hard to remain conscious after all of the hits she received from Gajeel.

"Because it's honestly the only work that I could find Levy, so it's nothing personal." he replied with a blank face.

"Nothing personal, you just attacked your home Natsu?" asked Levy almost in tears.

"That place isn't my home anymore Levy, Makarov saw to that when he kicked me out of there a month ago." he said in a harsh tone that actually made her flinch at just hearing it.

"It could be Natsu if you just come back to us." she stated with a hopeful smile.

"Like Salamander would want to go back to a place that kicked him out for no good reason." said Gajeel with a little chuckle.

"Shut the hell up Black Steel." growled Natsu as he glared at him.

"Sorry Levy but he's right, I don't think I'll ever come back to Fairy Tail especially after what happened to him." he said while clenching his fists as his magic flared up for a brief second.

"I'm so sorry about that Natsu and the whole guild was devastated when we found out." replied Levy.

"Like I give a fuck Levy, he's gone already and is never coming back. All because I went on that stupid job and Makarov felt the need to act like a real guild master for once." he growled out angrily at her.

"Natsu that's …" started Levy but then passed out to only be caught by Natsu.

"What the hell did you just do to her Salamander?" asked Gajeel as he noticed it was starting to get colder at a really fast pace.

"I just caused her to pass out due to the heat that I've been giving off this whole time. And it only worked because you beat the hell out of her." he replied while glaring at him.

"She wouldn't stay down either, and how many women do you have things for Salamander?" asked Gajeel with a slight smirk.

"None Black Steel, and I don't think I'd ever tell you about them if I did." he stated as he set Levy gently down.

"From what I can see you might have a thing for this little one and that one from last night." stated Gajeel still smirking.

"Then you're dumber than I thought Black Steel, she's one of the few people who has never even said anything bad about me and has always been nice to me. And the one from last night has already been through enough in her life that she doesn't need you assholes attacking her." explained Natsu as he started to walk away from the park.

"Whatever you say Salamander and where the hell are you going?" he asked as Natsu continued to walk away from him.

"To go get paid for saving your ass Black Steel, because I am confident that whatever Jose's plans are they didn't include the Council sending their Rune Knights to arrest you. Oh and you've done more than enough to get Makarov to declare war on your guild." stated Natsu as he turned around and looked at Gajeel.

"I think I have an idea how to make it even better." he stated with a mischievous grin making its way across his face.

"As long as you don't hurt any of them anymore I could care less what you do with them Black Steel. And I assume you know what will happen if you don't heed my warning." said Natsu before disappearing from Gajeel's view.

"You're just lucky that Master still has plans for you Salamander otherwise I might have taken him up on that earlier offer of his." mumbled Gajeel as he set to work on making a grand display of his handy work.

 **End of Chapter**

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Thanks for reading and I hope you all enjoyed this latest chapter as much as I did writing it. And I would like to thank all of you for all of the reviews and views that this story is receiving after only having just two chapters up for it and only being out for a week now. Well know that you all know how much I appreciate the support that you're all giving me I'll do what I usually do with my notes and throw out some of my random thoughts. So as you can see Natsu still has some soft spots for certain members of Fairy Tail, but otherwise could really care less about them. And going along with that train of thought what other characters should he still care about but just so you know Makarov isn't going to be one of them since Natsu blames himself and Makarov for Happy's death right now. Oh and thanks for letting me know who you'd like to see in his little harem that will eventually form. So as always feel free to leave me a review or pm me about pretty much anything and I'll try to respond back as soon as possible.**

 **Until the next Chapter**

 **Digem Out!**


	4. All Hell Breaks Loose

Ch 4: All Hell Breaks Loose

 **The next morning at Phantom Lord's HQ:**

"Jose we need to have a little chat." said Natsu as he came into his office without even knocking.

"Why come right on in Salamander I definitely wasn't trying to do some paperwork." replied Jose sarcastically in a harsh tone.

"Good to hear Jose, and yes I know you were sarcastic. But that doesn't matter since I saved Gajeel's ass last night and feel I should be compensated for it, around one hundred thousand jewels should do it.." he stated while taking a seat.

"What did he do?" asked Jose after letting out a long sigh.

"He almost killed two of them while he was roughing them up in order to get Makarov to attack you guys. But luckily I showed up in time to stop him, otherwise you would probably have the Council all over your ass right now." he explained with a stern look.

"That would have ruined everything, thank you Salamander for stopping him." replied Jose with a slight smile.

"I don't want your thanks Jose, I made it clear that I don't do things for free." he stated still having that stern look.

"And what would you do if I didn't pay you Salamander?" asked Jose as his usual smirk made its way across his face.

"I'd leave and never work for you again, oh and I'd probably go and offer my services to Fairy Tail since I can only assume they're pretty pissed at you right now." answered Natsu with a smirk of his own.

"You're very straight forward Salamander; I like that in a person. Let's me know what to expect from someone and in your case you seem to go where the jewels are." he said with a happy grin.

"I've always been straightforward Jose, but that definitely doesn't make me predictable like you were saying. It just lets you know I won't stab you in the back like most people would if given the opportunity, I prefer my enemies to see me coming so they can tremble in fear at what I'm going to do to them. Oh and jewels can only buy my services Jose, everything else has to be earned." said Natsu with a crazed grin that actually unsettled Jose a little bit.

"Well it's good for both of us then that I only require your services Salamander, and I think you definitely deserve another hundred thousand jewels for saving my plans from being completely ruined." he replied while starting to count out the correct amount of jewels for Natsu.

"Glad to see that you're a reasonable man Jose, and while I was with Gajeel he mentioned that you might have more work for me." stated Natsu as he started to look around the office.

"That I do Salamander, I anticipate Fairy Tail to attack the branch of my guild that is the closest to them and would like you to be there and greet them." he said with a smirk as he handed the jewels over to Natsu.

"Sounds like fun, but that will cost you more than before Jose. Since as we both know they have some very strong mages in their ranks and they'll be out for blood." he replied with a smirk.

"Of course Salamander, how does five hundred thousand jewels sound? But I want you to do something that you're probably not used to doing." said Jose with a glint in his eye that meant trouble for Fairy Tail.

"That sounds like enough for me to fight my old guild, but what is it that you want me to do?" he asked while studying the Wizard Saint before him.

"Oh it's nothing much Salamander, all I want is for you to wait until Makarov leaves the battle before you start to participate. After that you're free to do whatever you want to those Fairies since this will be the last job I have for you for a little while." answered Jose as he handed Natsu another five wads of one hundred thousand jewels each.

"Consider it done Jose and it's been a pleasure to work with you." said Natsu as they shook hands.

"No Salamander the pleasure has been all mine, and I think we'll have plenty more of these interactions in the future." replied Jose with a happy smile.

"I think so too Jose oh and is Juvia around, I'd like to say goodbye to her before I head out since I'll probably take off right after I beat some fairies?" he asked with a slight grin.

"Sorry but she's out with another member running an errand for me right now and won't be back for a while." answered Jose, taking note that Natsu seemed to care about Juvia and how he could possibly use that to his advantage in the future.

"It's fine, I guess I'll just talk with her the next time I see her." he said as he got up and made his way to the door.

"Oh and Salamander as a show of thanks for saving Gajeel for me, anything off the menu is on the house." said Jose with a slight smile.

"I'm going to have to take you up on that offer Jose, since I haven't had a bite to eat since I left Magnolia." he replied as he exited the office.

"And just like that I have you at my will if you decided to go back to those Fairies." thought Jose as his smile turned sinister as he looked out his office window.

 **At Magnolia Park:**

"What the hell's going on at the park?" asked Grey as he, Lucy and Erza headed towards the guild from Lucy's place.

"I have no idea, is there some sort of festival going on?" asked Lucy with a slight smile.

"Not that I know of, let's go check it out." replied Erza as she redirected their course to the park.

"Make way." said Grey and Erza as they made their way through the crowd. And once they did they were all stunned at what they saw, pinned up against the tree in the center of the park was all of the members of Shadow Gear. They were all severely beaten to the point that none of them were even awake right now, but the thing that caused the three of them the most anger was the Phantom Lord emblem painted on them.

"I fucking told Master something like this would happen!" hissed Grey as ice started to form around him. This caused the citizens to start backing away from the ice mage that looked like he was going to explode.

"Why would they do this?" asked Lucy as she started to cry at the sight of Levy being so beaten and then put on display like that.

"We need to get them down right now." ordered Erza as she and Grey got to work on that.

"What happened here?" asked Erza as she glared at the crowd, demanding that someone fill her in.

"We don't know they were all like this as soon as we woke up." said one brave soul from the crowd.

"Natsu…" mumbled Levy causing Grey and Erza to both stop what they were doing and look at each other. Wondering if the other heard what they thought they had, and judging by the faces that they were giving each other it wasn't something that they both just wanted to hear.

"Why would she be saying his name?" asked Grey with a confused expression.

"I have no idea Grey." replied Erza with a frown.

"If you two are talking about her saying Natsu's name she's been doing that for a while now." said a different person from the crowd.

"Do you know why she's saying his name?" she asked.

"Nope, maybe she has a thing for him." suggested the man with a smirk that was instantly removed by the glare that Erza sent back his way.

"Make way, I'm their guild Master." stated Makarov as he and group of other Fairy Tail members finally arrived on scene.

"Oh dear god." said Mira as she covered her mouth with a few of the other mages having similar reactions at the sight. But Makarov didn't say anything and only had his head down so you couldn't see his facial expression.

"I was fine with you attacking our guild hall and destroying it since that can easily be fixed. But I will not sit by as you attack my children Phantom, this mean war!" shouted Makarov as he crushed his staff in anger. The few members there all had determined expressions on their faces as they got ready to go payback Phantom for what they did to Shadow Gear.

 **An hour later in the hospital:**

"Do you think they'll be fine?" asked Lucy with a concerned look.

"Of course they will Lucy, you heard the doctor. They'll all be good as new in just a week as long as they stay in bed for the whole time." replied Mira with her usual smile.

"I didn't them Mira, I was talking about everyone else." clarified Lucy with a slight smile.

"I sure hope so Lucy but with Master leading the charge I am sure they'll be okay." she replied with a confident smile.

"I don't understand why Phantom would do this." stated Lucy with a frown now making an appearance.

"Master will definitely figure that out Lucy, but what I'm more curious about is why does our little Levy keep saying Natsu's name and nothing else?" she asked with a devious little grin.

"Natsu!" yelled Levy as she suddenly woke up and shot to a sitting position, which caused her to hiss out in pain.

"Sorry Levy but he's not here." replied Lucy with a frown since she would feel better if he was with the rest of them fighting Phantom right now.

"Where is he then?" asked Levy as she looked around and realized she was in a hospital.

"We have no idea Levy, he could be on the other side of the country for all we know." said Mira with a frown.

"But he was there last night." stated Levy as her body screamed out in pain at every move she made.

"He did this to you guys last night?" asked Lucy with a completely shocked look.

"No of course not Lucy, Natsu would never do something like this, but he did help Gajeel with destroying the guild hall the night before." replied Levy with a frown.

"Why would he do something like that?" asked Mira not wanting to accept that he would do something like that.

"Apparently it's the only work that he could get after everything that happened." she replied with her frown only getting bigger as time passed on.

"Why didn't he just return to the guild?" asked Lucy since it seemed like it would have been the logical thing to do in his position.

"He didn't do that because he blames himself and Master for Happy's death, but I don't think he knows about someone going around and spreading those rumors about him and making sure he couldn't find any work. And I was about to tell him all of that but I passed out before I could." she said with her head down and her body starting to tremble.

"Hey it's okay Levy, everything will turn out okay. Just you wait and see after Natsu learns about all of this he'll come back to us." said Mira as she gently hugged the girl and let her cry into her shoulder for a few minutes.

"But I don't think he will Mira, even after finding out about all of this. He's still going to blame himself and Master for allowing whoever did that to him, and probably only go out and kill that same person once he figures out who they are. After which who knows what he's going to do." she sobbed trying to not start crying again.

"You don't know that Levy, Natsu is always doing the unexpected." replied Mira with a hopeful smile.

"I sure hope so." she said while wiping away a few tears.

"Sorry but why was Natsu there last night?" asked Lucy who needed to know what he was up to.

"He saved Jet and Droy's life, probably even mine from Black Steel Gajeel." she said with a slight smile.

"How did he do that?" asked Mira, whose hope grew a little bit more at hearing Natsu saved them from Gajeel.

"He just showed up and took Gajeel down and then started to lecture him about if he started to break limbs like he wanted then we probably would have died. It was actually a little terrifying since he even threatened to tear off one of Gajeel's arms at the beginning. Then we had a little talk and I passed out only to wake up a few minutes ago, where is everyone by the way?" asked Levy as she realized that only Lucy and Mira were there to greet her.

"They headed off to fight Phantom after finding out what they did to you guys." answered Lucy with a concerned look.

"Oh no that isn't good." she said now with a worried look on her face.

"Its fine Levy, Master Makarov went with them so nothing bad is going to happen to them." said Mira with a small but confident smile.

"You don't get it, that's not why I'm concerned right now. I'm afraid that Natsu will be there waiting for them." she replied with her expression becoming even more concerned now that she knew Makarov might run into him.

"Why would he be there?" asked Lucy now realizing why Levy was so concerned.

"From what I heard last night it sounds like Phantom is paying him to help out with this stuff. And what better way to hurt our moral than have to go up against one of our own." she explained while shaking her head, hoping that she was wrong about this and Natsu only did one job for Phantom then left.

"We need to let them know about all of this." stated Lucy as she looked between the two of them.

"Erza will have a communication lacrima with her, so all we need to do is go back to the guild and get the other one." said Mira, hoping that they would be fast enough.

"I'll go get it." said Lucy and raced out of the room before the other two could stop her.

"She looks eager to help." stated Mira with a slight smile.

"Does she even know where it's at?" asked Levy as she laid back down into the bed.

"Crap, I completely forgot about that." she replied.

"Don't worry Mira, Lucy will figure it out but if you're still worried just leave in five minutes to go help her." said Levy as she closed her eyes and slowly went back to sleep.

 **Basement of the guild:**

"Where the hell would she put you?" asked Lucy out loud as she continued her search.

"Okay think like Mira." said Lucy as she started to mimic Mira and pretending to serve members drinks.

"At the bar!" she shouted and went to the makeshift bar and started to tear through it until she found the communication lacrima. With it securely held in her hand she took off out of the guild only to be met with rain, which shocked her since it was sunny only moments ago.

"Why is it raining?" asked Lucy as she could barely see because of how hard it was coming down.

"Drip drip drop." came the voice of a woman dressed in all blue as she came down the street towards her with a pink umbrella held over her head.

"Excuse me, but would you mind taking me to the hospital?" asked Lucy as she joined the woman under her umbrella.

"Sorry Miss Lucy Heartfilia, but Juvia cannot allow that." said Juvia with a neutral expression.

"That's okay, wait how do you even know my name?" asked Lucy as she backed away from her and into the rain again.

"I know your name Miss Heartfilia because I was sent here to take you back to Master Jose." replied Juvia still having a blank face.

"There is no way I'm going anywhere with you, and wait a minute isn't he the Master of Phantom Lord?" she asked while glaring at her.

"You weren't given an option Miss Heartfilia, **WATER LOCK!** " said Juvia as all of the water near them surrounded Lucy before she could even react, and she was now trying to get out of it but having no luck.

"There's no use trying to escape, once Juvia has someone in her water lock they are at her mercy." stated Juvia as she glared at Lucy who was running out of air.

"Looks like me coming along was a complete waste." said Sol as he emerged from the ground right next to Juvia.

"Juvia wants to finish this quickly so she can see Natsu-san." stated Juvia with a smile as the unconscious body of Lucy fell to the ground.

"You should watch out when you're around him Juvia, look what he did to that one member." stated Sol as he picked up Lucy and not noticing her keys and communication lacrima falling to the ground.

"Natsu-san would never do anything like that to Juvia, we're friends Sol. And Natsu-san treats his friends better than most do, he already spent more time with Juvia than everyone besides Gajeel." she replied with a smile as the rain let up and they headed down a street just as someone else arrived. The new perosn accidentally kicked Lucy's keys and brought her to a stop to investigate the source of the noise.

"Keys who would leave their keys in the street, oh no!" said Mira as she picked them up and realized exactly what they were. This caused her to frantically look around for the woman that they belonged to and resulted in her not notice the communication lacrima on the side of the street.

"Lucy can you hear me!" yelled Mira as she took off to try and find the celestial mage that was completely defenseless without her keys.

 **Phantom Lord branch closest to Magnolia:**

"Your old guild sure knows how to make an entrance." said Gajeel with a grin as he and Natsu crouched in the rafters.

"That they do, but I would have probably blown the doors right off their hinges." replied Natsu with a smirk.

"I can see that, right after that you probably would have been screaming for my head." chuckled Gajeel at the thought of Natsu acting like the fairies below them. Who were at the moment right now easily manhandling the Phantom Lord mages that weren't even landing any of their attacks.

"Yes and I might have taken it, but don't worry Black Steel we're allies for now at least." he replied with that creepy grin that made Gajeel feel like insects were under his skin.

"And I plan to keep it that way." mumbled Gajeel only for Natsu to start chuckling at him.

"Looks like it's time to enter the fray Black Steel, so who do you want?" he asked as he pointed at Makarov heading up the stairs.

"I think Titania will put up a good fight." stated Gajeel as a grin reappeared on his face.

"Good choice and I guess that means I get the rest since Laxus decided not to show up." he said with a disappointed look on his face.

"You're one crazy son of a bitch Salamander." said Gajeel as he looked over at the mage who now had a crazed grin on his face as red fire started to coat his body.

"Just remember that Black Steel." he replied before dropping down from the ceiling and causing a large explosion that threw mages from both side in every direction.

"What the hell was that?" asked Grey as his ice shield crumbled.

"I'd assume it's whoever helped Gajeel destroy our guild hall." replied Erza now in her Flame Empress armor as all of the fighting stopped to see who would emerge from the creator and dust brought up from the last attack.

"You'd be correct about that Titania." said a voice that all of Fairy Tail knew all too well, but never expected to hear here.

"Natsu is that you?" she asked as a figure came finally emerged from the dust.

"The one and only." he replied with his crazed grin that made most of the Fairy Tail members take a step back.

"What are you doing here?" she asked with a confused look on her face.

"Isn't that kind of obvious given the circumstances Titania." he stated while still grinning at them.

"No it isn't Flame Brain and why do you keep calling her that?" asked Grey who couldn't help the grin that was slowly appearing on his face.

"And I used to be known as the dumb one." he chuckled as red flames formed on his hands.

"You wouldn't do something like that Natsu." said Erza as she looked at him with a slight smile.

"Oh but I did Titania, just like I'm now going to do this. **FIRE DRAGON'S BRILLIANT FLAME!** " shouted Natsu as he threw a large fireball at the Fairy Tail members.

" **ICE MAKE: SHIELD!** " shouted Grey as he just barely created a shield to block Natsu's attack. That caused the fire to explode outwards and destroy everything that wasn't behind Grey's shield that crumbled right after Natsu's attack finished.

"What the hell Natsu!" shouted Grey as he glared at the spot that used to contain the dragon slayer.

"You're always wide open after making something to protect more than just yourself Grey. **FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FISTS!"** shouted Natsu as he started to punch the completely unaware ice mage.

"Natsu!" shouted Erza as she charged him only to flip backwards as a large black sword smashed into the spot she would have been at if she hadn't stopped.

"Sorry Titania but your fight is with me today." said Gajeel as the sword turned back into his arms.

"Black Steel!" she hissed while glaring at him with nothing but hatred for what he did to her family.

"Now that's the look I want to see on the face of my opponent." he stated with a smug grin on his face.

"I'm going to make you pay for what you did to them." she declared as she switched back into her regular armor.

"I'd like to see you try Titania, because if those three are any indication to what the rest of you Fairies are capable of. Then I might as well have stayed out of this pathetic little fight." taunted Gajeel only lean back to avoid a slash at his neck.

"You have no idea what we're capable of." hissed Erza as she continued to slash at him. Only for Gajeel to either dodge it or block the attack with an iron pole that he would then swing at her and anyone that got in the way.

"Oh but I do Titania, Salamander is quite the mage and is also the only reason those two idiots are still alive. But he probably only did that to get more jewels from Jose and didn't want that girl to be upset about losing two of her closest friends." replied Gajeel as his attack missed Erza to only take out three of his own guild members.

"This isn't about Natsu, and how can you be so careless? That last attack took out three of your own guild members." she asked while launching swords at him that he was dodging with great agility for someone as big as him.

"Don't care and they should have dodged it." he replied while taking out two more.

"They're your friends and they're fighting beside you which should at least mean something to you." she shouted while trying to land a good hit on him.

"HA most of them are just sitting back and watching Salamander and I make your guild look incredibly weak." taunted Gajeel as he jumped away from her and pointed over to Natsu's fight. That at this point didn't look good for Fairy Tail because Natsu easily took out half of them before they even realized what was happening. And the remaining ones were either being overrun by the other mages of Phantom Lord or had to deal with the fire dragon slayer.

"Shit, Natsu you need to stop!" shouted Erza before she had to bring up a sword to block a black one that was going for her head.

"What part of your fight is with me didn't you understand Titania?" he asked with a grin that annoyed Erza more than anything else right now. And it was because he was standing in between her and bringing Natsu back to Fairy Tail.

" **FIRE DRAGON'S WING ATTACK!** " shouted Natsu as he sent a few fairies flying back with a few new burns.

" **ICE MAKE: HAMMER!** " shouted Grey as he brought down a huge hammer made of ice onto Natsu. Only to watch as it started to crack with red fire shooting out from the cracks before it shattered into little pieces with a completely fine Natsu standing there with a grin.

"Why are you doing this Natsu?" asked Grey as he glared at the man who used to be his rival and best friend.

"What part exactly, are you confused about Grey?" he asked back as he punched Nab in the face as said mage tried to sneak up on him.

"All of this Natsu, why did you help them destroy the guild and why are you fighting against us? When you should be right here with us after what they did to Shadow Gear." asked Grey as he and Natsu stared each other down.

"The simple answer to both of those is because it's my job now Grey." he replied with a grin.

"Your job is to turn on your friends and family?" shouted Grey as he launched into hand to hand combat with Natsu.

"Family, that's funny since I was kicked out of that thing you call a family Grey when it was one of the few things I actually cared about. And no my job isn't to do that it, but since I can't get work as a mage I decided to hire out my services to anyone willing to pay. And Jose was more than happy to pay me to destroy your precious guild hall and then stay here and fight off anyone dumb enough to retaliate." he answered while dodging all of Grey's attack and striking back with a kick to Grey's chest that sent him flying into Elfman who was just barely able to catch him.

"You could have come back Natsu." wheezed Grey as he tried to catch his breath.

"Levy said the same thing Grey, and just like I told her I'll tell you. There is no way I'm coming back after what happened to Happy." he stated with a frown.

"How is that a good reason to not return to your family?" asked Grey.

"How's this for an answer Grey, everything in that fucking place will remind me of him and how because of my stupid actions he's now dead. Oh and also every time I would see Makarov I would have to fight the urge to rip his fucking head off." growled Natsu as red flames danced all over his body.

"What happened to you Natsu, you're completely different now?" asked Grey with a frown.

"Oh my new look, I just thought I would change it up a bit and this white coat seemed like a good choice." he replied with a grin as the fire vanished and everyone watching was left wondering what just happened.

"That's not what I'm talking about!" shouted Grey.

"Of course it isn't, which is quite the shame because I like this new look and no one ever seems to mention it. As for what you were really asking about Grey the answer to that question is really simple too. I grew the fuck up and remembered what Igneel taught me about this cruel world we all live in. And with that knowledge restored, so long fun loving idiot who just tried to bring a smile to others and hello the new me." he answered with a frown.

"The world isn't just a cruel place Natsu, and you knew that when you were at Fairy Tail with us." said Grey.

"Yes but I'm no longer going to pretend that everything is black and white, when it's more likely all just different shades of grey. And the only thing that everyone can agree on is jewels, which is what I'm now doing all of this for." he replied with a sad smile. Grey was about to respond but a small object came falling from the floors above and stopped the conversation as they both looked to see what it was.

"Master!" shouted Erza as she flew over to his sickly green body.

"I'd leave while you all still have the option to." said Natsu with a frown as he looked at Makarov.

"We're not done talking Natsu." stated Grey as he glared at him and then rushed over to Erza and the rest of his guild.

"The Fairy verse Fairies fight is over, let's get them while they're weak!" shouted one member of Phantom Lord as the rest cheered along with him.

"Shit, without Master they'll overrun us." said Erza after hearing this and looking up at the members of Phantom Lord staring at them ready to pounce.

"What are we going to do?" asked Cana who was helping some of the wounded members.

"We'll hold them off as best as we can while we retreat." ordered Erza as the few remaining mages that could still fight got in between the wounded and the Phantom Lord mages.

"Those fucking idiots just had to say that didn't they." said Gajeel from the rafters as he watched what was unfolding below him.

"What did they say?" asked Aria with tears still coming from his eyes.

"They called Salamander the F word." stated Gajeel with a grin as the Fairy Tail members got ready for an attack that he knew wasn't going to come.

"What F word, and why is that such a bad thing to say to Salamander?" asked Aria as he wiped away some tears.

"Fairy and you'll see." replied Gajeel as his grin got bigger.

"Get ready everyone, they're going to attack any second now." shouted Erza as she got ready to take on ten of them.

" **FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!** " shouted Natsu as a huge blast of red flames took out almost all of the Phantom Lord mages in one go. Shocking the few remain and all of the Fairy Tail mages because they had no idea why Natsu seemed to randomly turn on Phantom, but that confusion didn't last long.

"I fucking warned all of you idiots what would happen if you ever called me a fairy again!" he shouted as he stalked over to the remaining Phantom Lord mages that were now cowering together.

"We're sorry Salamander." stuttered one of them.

"Help us Gajeel!" screamed another.

"Sorry to disappoint you but Black Steel is smart enough to not call me that word or get in between a dragon and its prey." said Natsu as he grinned at the mage that called out for Gajeel's help.

"Please Salamander I'll do anything just please don't hurt me." begged the mage with the rest nodding their heads in agreement.

"I'd think a few jewels could get me to forget you fucking idiots breaking one of the few rules I gave you when I came here." he stated and was instantly given everything that the mages had on them. Some of them even started to get jewels from the knocked out members scattered all over the place.

"Is that enough Salamander Sir?" asked the last mage to hand him jewels. Natsu remained quiet for a few minutes as he started to count how many jewels he just received to not pummel the living daylights out of them.

"Do you think it's going to be enough?" asked Aria.

"Probably, Salamander likes to put on a big act but he's still a softy deep down." replied Gajeel with a grin.

"Interesting, oh and Master said that we got the girl from their guild with no problems." said Aria as Natsu's ear twitched at hearing this.

"Considering that most of their fighters are here that's not too surprising." stated Gajeel.

"It's just barely enough; well it was nice working with you all. Oh and Black Steel I'd be willing to fight you anytime you want and we'll see how much of a softy I am." said Natsu with a smirk as he started to walk towards the group of Fairy Tail mages that were all still standing there, too shocked at what they all just witnessed to move.

"Natsu, thank you." said Erza with a faint smile as he got closer to them.

"What for Titania, I didn't do that for you guys? I did that because they called me a fairy which I am no longer and never will be again." he replied while walking past them.

"Natsu, you don't mean that." she said with a hurt look now on her face.

"Oh but I did Titania and I would suggest you get Makarov to Porlyusica as soon as you can or he might die. But that's up to you guys I couldn't care what happens to the old man. Well I'm off to go find work somewhere else." he said while not even stopping or looking back at them and headed off in a different direction than Magnolia.

"That couldn't have been Natsu." stated Macao.

"It was unfortunately, but what's more important right now is helping Master." said Erza in a commanding tone that got them to leave there as fast as possible.

 **One hour later outside of Phantom Lord's Headquarters:**

"If Jose took Mira or Levy so help me I'll tear apart his whole guild piece by piece." Natsu growled to himself.

"Natsu!" came the faint cry of a woman. He instantly tried to locate the source of the cry and when he did he couldn't believe what he saw. Falling from one of the towers was what looked to be a person that was either thrown out or jumped. Whichever one it was didn't really matter to him right now because all he cared about right now was stopping this woman from becoming nothing more than a stain on the ground.

So with speeds that even surprised himself he was able to jump from a nearby rock formation and catch the falling woman while holding her protectively. As he took the impact of their hard landing as they crashed through a wall and finally came rolling to a stop.

"I knew you'd catch me." said Lucy with a big smile directed at him.

"What the fuck kind of response is that when I didn't even know you were here?" he asked in an angry tone.

"Something just told me that you'd catch me if I jumped." replied Lucy still smiling at him as he cut off her ropes.

"You fucking jumped because a voice told you that I'd catch you?" he asked while looking at her with a skeptical look.

"When you say it like that it makes me sound crazy." she said while now glaring at him.

"Well that's probably because you fucking are Lucy!" he shouted at her, only for her to start hitting him.

"I'm not crazy you jerk." she yelled while continuing to hit him.

"I think you jumping out of the top of that tower says otherwise, but let's get moving unless you want to go say hi to Jose again." replied Natsu with a slight grin as she continued to hit him.

"That sounds like a good idea but don't call me crazy." said Lucy as she glared at him.

"Whatever Lucy, and where the hell are your keys?" asked Natsu as he noticed the lack of jingling that usually came from her.

"I lost them when I got kidnapped." she replied with an embarrassed look.

"You'd think that you'd be more careful with your only means of protection, and why the hell did Jose kidnap you anyways?" he asked while shaking his head at how clueless she was sometimes and how that might get her killed one of these times.

"This weird girl used rain to encase me with water until I ran out of air and they must have taken my keys away from me afterwards." she explained.

"Juvia's not weird Lucy and why the hell didn't you use Aquarius?" growled out Natsu, causing Lucy to flinch at his tone.

"You know her and I forgot about Aquarius." said Lucy with a smile as she took in his new look.

"I've met a lot of Phantom Lord mages over the past few days Lucy so yes. And you need to work on things like that otherwise you're going to get yourself killed." he stated while glaring at her and causing her to lose her smile.

"Not all of us can fight like you Natsu." she said back to him with a glare of her own.

"Well you better learn then Lucy, otherwise you picked the wrong profession. And if you don't you will either get yourself or someone else killed." he said with a hurt look coming across his face. As Lucy just realized why he was taking something like this so seriously when the Natsu she knew would have been laughing about all of it.

"I'm so sorry Natsu, I didn't want to make you think about him." she said with a concerned look.

"Its fine Lucy, just take my mistake as an example and learn from it so you won't make it yourself." he replied as he continued to walk in the direction of Magnolia in complete silence for a few minutes.

"I like the new outfit Natsu, you look good in white." stated Lucy, who was tired of walking in silence with Natsu.

"Thanks, I needed some new clothes and decided to go with a new look as well." he said without even looking at her.

"I was surprised to hear that you are no longer wearing your scarf anymore." she said, hoping to start a conversation with him.

"Didn't need it anymore, I've got something more important now." he replied while touching the green cloth wrapped around his right arm.

"I was wondering about that and why it seems so familiar to me." said Lucy with a slight smile.

"It made out of his knapsack." responded Natsu with a sad smile that almost caused her to start crying just at seeing it.

"He's in a better place now Natsu." she stated with a sad smile of her own.

"Yep, now he's with his mother every single day." he said with the same sad smile while he looked at the piece of cloth.

"She really must have been someone special to handle the two of you." she said with a bright smile as she remembered all of the trouble she got into with Happy and Natsu during that short time together before he got kicked out.

"She definitely was, and she brought out the best in the both of us. So you never did tell me why Jose kidnapped you." he said while then switching the topic to anything but Lisanna or Happy. And for the next few minutes Lucy told him about her past that ended with her crying in his arms, only to then have him carrying her on his back as they made their way towards Magnolia.

"Why did you teach me how to take care of a crying girl Lisanna?" asked Natsu out loud since Lucy was asleep.

"I could have just left her there, and I could be on my way right now. But no I had to comfort her like you said I should and now look at me. I'm heading towards my old guild that I just fought with a few hours ago." he stated with a dry chuckle.

"What was that Natsu?" asked Lucy as she started to wake up.

"I said you're almost home Lucy." he said as they came to a stop outside of Magnolia so Lucy could hop off.

"Don't you mean we're almost home Natsu?" she asked with a bright smile.

"Nope, definitely didn't mean that at all." he replied while looking at her with a serious face.

"Come on Natsu, everyone misses you and wants you back." she argued.

"I'm not too sure about that Lucy, they know I destroyed the guild and then fought against them when they attacked Phantom." he stated with a grin that seemed like he really didn't care.

"They won't care about that if you just come back to us Natsu, especially once they learn that you saved Shadow Gear." she stated with a hopeful smile.

"Sorry Lucy but that isn't going to happen, and if I was you I'd hurry back to the guild. Jose probably already sent out some of his mages after you again and might even attack the guild to try and get you back." said Natsu as he headed into the town.

"Why not Natsu, and why do you think Jose would attack us?" asked Lucy as she followed him.

"If you want to know why I'm not coming back talk to Grey, he knows my reasons. And as for why Jose might try to attack Fairy Tail now to get you back that would be because Makarov was taken out in the last fight which means Fairy Tail is at its weakest right now. " explained Natsu in a casual way as they continued to walk through the town.

"Master died?" asked Lucy not believing something like that was even possible.

"Of course not, I'd have a huge grin on my face if that old bat finally kicked the can. But he barely had any magic left in him after Jose was done with him." he replied to Lucy's relief that quickly turned to horror at his comment.

"Don't joke like that Natsu." she said while hitting him.

"I wasn't joking Lucy, and we're definitely not close enough for me to keep allowing you to hit me like that." he stated while giving her a quick glare that let her know he was serious.

"Fine Natsu, but if you think Phantom might attack us why don't you stay and help?" she asked.

"What would be in it for me?" he asked back as he stopped in front of a food vendor and bought some of the food.

"I don't know, maybe protecting those that you care about and still consider family." shouted Lucy as she glared at him.

"Nah and I actually have a terrible track record in that department since the three people I cared about the most are gone." stated Natsu as he continued to walk around aimlessly.

"Are you freaking serious?" asked Lucy with a look of disbelief.

"Yep, but if I was offered jewels let's say somewhere around a million then that would be a different story. And Fairy Tail wouldn't have to worry about Phantom Lord ever attacking them again." replied Natsu while giving her a big grin.

"Where are we supposed to get that many jewels so quickly?" she asked.

"I'm pretty sure that the daughter of the wealthy Heartfilia family could easily pay for my services." he suggested with smirk.

"I have a hard time just paying for my rent." she shouted at him.

"Well then it looks like you won't be receiving any of my services in the upcoming battle." he stated while looking through the wares of a random vendor.

"I don't know why I'm even talking with you." she stated.

"I've been asking myself that same question for a while now, and the only answer I can come up with is that I saved your life. And now you want me to keep doing that for you, which I would be fine with as long as I get paid." he replied with another grin, but was shocked when something hit his cheek.

"You're no longer the same Natsu that brought me here and are now nothing more than a selfish asshole that only cares about jewels." shouted Lucy as she glared at him.

"That's funny coming from you Lucy, and you're right about me no longer being the same as I once was. Now I'm just like everyone else out there and only concerned about myself, which is what I should have been doing all along." replied Natsu, to then catch another slap before it could reach his face.

"I told you that I wasn't going to allow you to keep hitting me Lucy. And right now I'm think I should snap your wrist and take you straight back to Jose." he growled while glaring at her as she started to tremble.

"But lucky for you I'm tired of listening to you and want to leave this place before it turns into a warzone." he said as he let go of her wrist and then turned around and walked off.

"Why did all of this happen?" asked Lucy as she fell to her knees and started to cry.

 **A few minutes later with Levy:**

"You can come in." said Levy as she looked up from her book because of the knock at her door.

"Hey Levy I was in the area and wanted to make sure that you were okay." said Natsu as he walked in as if it was nothing.

"Natsu, you're actually here?" asked a startled Levy.

"At least I think I'm here." he replied with a smirk that caused Levy have a slight blush.

"I was just surprised after what you said to me last time." she stated while looking away from him.

"Hey just because I'll never be a mage of Fairy Tail again doesn't mean I won't stop by every once and awhile to see the people I really care about." he said with his usual grin that he rarely used now after what happened.

"I really mean that much to you Natsu?" she asked no longer trying to hide the blush she had, which was only worse after hearing Natsu say that about her.

"Of course you are Levy; you were my next friend right after Lisanna. And you've always been kind to me over the years, while somehow not getting annoyed by me asking you questions all of the time." he replied as he took a seat next to her bed.

"How could I get mad at you when you were only trying to figure things out." she said with a smile as she remembered all of the times she explained different things to the dragon slayer. Who at the time when he joined Fairy Tail knew less about the real world than most kids half his age, but what do you expect when he was raised by a dragon.

"Everyone else pretty much did Levy, and even though Erza tried her best to teach me her methods were more severe than yours." he said with a light smile now gracing his face.

"More severe, she pretty much tortured you until you could read and write properly." she replied while giggling at the memory.

"And that's why I came to you with any other question I had after that." he said while he chuckled with her.

"So you really don't plan on coming back to the guild?" she asked with a frown as she looked up at him with her big brown eyes.

"Please don't look at me like that Levy; it just makes all of this harder on me. And I already told you why I can't come back; it was a miracle that I was able to return after what happened two years ago. Now add him in too and I know I can't handle it." he replied with a sad smile.

"I understand Natsu, but they do say that time heals all wounds. So maybe using the word never was the incorrect choice in this situation?" she said with a slight smile.

"Okay Levy, my bad I meant to say that it's highly unlikely for me to ever be a Fairy Tail mage again." he said with a little grin.

"Now that's something I can live with." said Levy with a caring smile.

"You're too smart for your own good sometimes Levy." he stated with one of his normal grins.

"And what do you mean by that Natsu?" she asked him with an eyebrow raised.

"You know exactly what I mean." he replied.

"No I don't Natsu, so please explain it to me." she said in a slightly commanding tone.

"Why are you so stubborn sometimes?" he asked with a grin.

"Probably because I had a stubborn student which required me to be even more stubborn than him." she answered while giving him a grin.

"You got me on that one, so what I meant was that you used me saying never to get me to admit that I could possibly rejoin Fairy Tail. And even though it worked in your favor this time it won't always turn out that way Levy." he said with a concerned look.

"Very true but if I do get into trouble I know that I'll have a dragon in my corner ready to swoop in and save the day." she replied with a grin.

"Please don't tell me that a voice in your head told you that?" asked Natsu with an even more concerned look on his face than he had moments ago.

"Of course a voice didn't tell me that Natsu, I just know that you'll always be there for me like you've always been. Just like you were last night and why did you instantly think I had voices in my head telling me things?" she asked while giving him a skeptical look.

"I wanted to rip Black Steel apart right then and there when I saw what he did to you. And if he had actually hit you while I was there I don't know if I would have been able to stop myself." he growled with his fists clenched tightly.

"Well I'm glad that you didn't Natsu, so back to you telling me why you instantly thought I had voices in my head." she said with a kind smile.

"Well you see I caught Lucy after she threw herself out of a tower earlier today when a voice told her that I would be there for her if she jumped. So when you said that you had a dragon in your corner I was concerned that whatever Lucy might have could be contagious." he explained only for Levy to burst into a fit of giggles that caused her to wince in pain but keep on giggling because it was too funny to her.

"Hey, I was just concerned." he stated with an upset look on his face.

"I know Natsu, but hearing that you saved Lucy like that and then thought that I might be hearing voices like her was just too much." she replied after settling down.

"I still think she might be crazy if she heard a voice tell her that." stated Natsu with a frown.

"Natsu I'm pretty sure that she didn't actually hear a voice, she just knew that if she jumped then everything would be okay. You could say that her instincts told her to do that, and you've always been one to follow your instincts." she explained with a smile.

"Then why the hell didn't she just say that?" he asked with an upset look.

"Because it was just easier to say a voice told her." she replied.

"I guess, but that caused a whole lot of confusion and made me think she might actually be crazy." he said with a grin.

"Aren't all members of Fairy Tail a little crazy in some way?" she asked him with a smirk.

"Good point Levy, but I need to head out before Phantom arrives and sucks me back into this whole guild war thing." said Natsu as he got up.

"Wait, they're going to attack?" asked Levy as she grabbed his hand.

"Yeah and it's probably going to happen any minute now which is why I need to be out of here or I'll end up in the middle of it somehow." he said while he tried to leave but Levy held his hand firm.

"Natsu you need to help." she stated while looking at him directly in the eyes.

"No I don't Levy, did everyone forget that I was kicked out of Fairy Tail which means I don't have to do anything for them that I don't want to." he asked while looking directly back at her.

"Are you saying that you really don't want to help the rest of the guild?" she asked.

"Levy they're all capable mages and should be able to look out for themselves. They don't need or want me anymore otherwise I would have never been kicked out in the first place. And I've already made sure that you and Mira won't be touched by anyone from Phantom so I really don't see any reason for me to stay and help." he said with a frown.

"How about because you still caring about the rest of the guild even though you don't want to admit it to yourself." she stated while letting go of his hand.

"Sorry Levy but that isn't true anymore, and once this whole thing blows over I'll stop by again to check up on you." said Natsu with a grin before he left Levy all alone, except for her two teammates that were still knocked out.

"I know it's still true Natsu, because someone as caring as you couldn't possibly become that cold even after everything you've been through." said Levy with a smile as she opened up her book and started to read again.

 **Earlier at Fairy Tail:**

"We need to go and search for Lucy." declared Mira as she glared at Erza.

"And I've told you Mira that we can't lose any more of our fighting power since we don't know when Phantom might attack us back. With Master down and Laxus refusing to help us and no one knowing where Mystogan or Gildarts are we just can't do it, especially since Natsu is now on the other side." replied Erza as she glared at the barmaid.

"I still don't believe that Natsu is with Phantom and actually fought all of you." stated Mira as the doors to the basement opened and someone came in.

"Sorry Mira, but he is. But if it makes you feel any better he seems to only be doing it for the jewels that they're paying him." said Grey as he downed the rest of his beer right afterwards.

"Apparently that's all he cares about anymore." stated Lucy as she walked in with teary eyes that she didn't even try to hide.

"Lucy you're all right." yelled Mira as she brought her into a hug and told her how worried she was.

"I'm fine Mira and thanks for finding my keys." she replied with a faint smile as she touched them gently.

"So what happened Lucy?" asked Grey with everyone else listening in. And over the next few minutes she filled them in on how she was kidnapped and then saved by Natsu while also letting them know the reason behind the kidnapping. After telling them that part she tried to apologize for being the cause for all of this, which resulted in none of them blaming her at all saying that Jose was just using it as an excuse to do all of this. Then she told them about everything that happened between her and Natsu which went all the way till she returned to the guild.

"I never would've thought that Natsu would say that, or only help if he got paid." stated Lucy with a frown.

"Like he said Lucy, he's changed to a different person." said Elfman with a frown since he saw Natsu as his kid brother.

"Like hell he has, he's still just hurting from being kicked out and then Happy dying." stated Grey.

"Are you sure about that Grey, because he seemed to be enjoying himself while he fought all of us?" asked Macao who now had a few bandages on thanks to said dragon slayer.

"Of course he was, Natsu has always loved to fight and now Jose was just paying him to do it." replied Grey.

"Sorry Grey but I'm going to have to go with Macao on this one, Natsu is no longer the same one that was a member here." stated Wakaba.

"No Grey's right, the Natsu we all know is still in there otherwise he wouldn't have saved Lucy and brought her back to us. When he knew right away that he could have given her to Jose for a nice reward." declared Mira with a stern look.

"I agree too, look what he did for us while we were trying to retreat." stated Erza.

"You mean when he freaked out for being called a fairy and turned on Phantom?" asked Cana with a questioning look.

"That was just an excuse he used to help us get away." replied Erza with a faint smile.

"Yeah and make a few jewels off of the remaining Phantom mages." mumbled Wakaba, only to be silenced by a glare from Mira.

"He also saved Shadow Gear." stated Mira as she gave them her usual smile.

"But what about his comments about Master?" asked Lucy with a frown.

"We admit that he's no longer the fun loving goofball that he used to be. But he's still a caring guy deep down and if he really wanted Master dead then he could have done it during the fight and before he helped us escape." argued Erza with the ground starting to shake afterwards.

"What the hell is going on?" asked Nab as he looked around with everyone else.

"Everyone needs to come out and see this!" shouted Alzack from the top of the stairs. As they all came out they were shocked to see the Phantom Lord Headquarters in the middle of the lake coming towards them slowly.

"Their freaking guild can walk!" shouted Macao with his mouth wide open.

"What are they planning to do?" asked Cana as things on the guildhall started to shift and what appeared to be a cannon came out.

"Everyone get behind me!" shouted Erza as she re-equipped into her Adamantine Armor and brought the shield together right before the cannon fired at them.

 **Outskirts of Magnolia in the middle of the forest:**

"Wow Jose, you must be pretty pissed to start firing that right away." stated Natsu with a smirk as he came up to tree that had a door and few windows in it.

"Why the hell am I even here?" he asked out loud while shaking his head.

"Maybe because you want to use this situation to rejoin the guild." suggested a voice from the shadows.

"Sorry Mystogan but I really doubt that since I can honestly say I don't want that." said Natsu not even looking over at the direction that the voice came from.

"Then maybe you're coming here to finish him off." suggested Mystogan as he came out of the trees.

"You know I have always found it curious that you always hide your identity, even to the point that you put the guild to sleep when come just to get a new job." he stated with a sly grin.

"And I've found it just as curious that you would pretend to go to sleep with the rest of them." replied Mystogan as he grabbed an apple and started to eat it.

"I just thought you probably had a good reason to keep your identity hidden, and also wanted to try and catch a peak at your true identity for myself." he said with a smirk.

"And did you Natsu?" asked Mystogan.

"Yes I did, so are the two of you twins or something like that?" he asked while finally looking at the S-Class mage of Fairy Tail.

"It's complicated Natsu and can be explained at a later time." replied Mystogan.

"What if I want to know now?" he asked with a devious grin.

"I still wouldn't tell you." stated Mystogan as he grabbed another two apples and tossed one to Natsu.

"Even if I threatened to reveal your identity?" he asked before taking a big bite of his apple.

"No, because I know you'd never do that to member of Fairy Tail." replied Mystogan.

"I guess you probably didn't hear about me being kicked out then." stated Natsu with a sad smile.

"No I did, but you still wouldn't do that Natsu because it's still who you are deep down. Yes you've killed someone now, but you only did that because of the situation that you were in and what just happened to you." he said in a soft voice.

"Maybe your correct Mystogan but then again who says I didn't just do it because I could and knew no one would care since they were dark mages?" asked Natsu with a sinister grin now on his face.

"That is another possibility but I highly doubt it." he replied while taking another bite of his apple.

"We'll see Mystogan and if I wanted to kill him I would have done it at Phantom Lord's Branch earlier today." said Natsu as he took a seat on a large root.

"Then I guess the only other logical reason that you're here is to either rub it in the old man's face, or you're making sure that he's still alright and can look after the guild while you're gone." he suggested in a smug tone.

"Why the hell are you even here Mystogan, shouldn't you be helping your guild out right now?" asked Natsu in an angry tone as he glared at the mage.

"I'm here because I wanted to speak with you Natsu, and I've already done enough for the guild over the last few days." he replied as he let loose a stack of Phantom Lord flags that went everywhere.

"Impressive Mystogan and you know she's going to be pissed when she sees this." stated Natsu with a grin.

"Are you afraid of her Natsu?" asked Mystogan in an amused tone.

"Hell yeah I am, that lady knows how to hurt someone just as much as she knows how to fix them." he said with a look of horror on his face as he remembered a memory he'd rather forget.

"Then we better pick them up." stated Mystogan as he started to collect them.

"I wasn't the one to toss them all over the place and why the hell did you want to talk to me anyway? You never said a word to me while we members of the same guild." asked Natsu as he watched the mage start collecting the flags.

"I needed to distance myself from the guild and everyone in it. And came here to ask you if you're really fine with leaving Fairy Tail to defend itself like this?" he asked while looking at him.

"They should be fine, they have plenty of strong mages still there." replied Natsu with a grin.

"True but you've seen some of the mages that Phantom has and know without Master Makarov they don't have very good odds." he said while continuing to pick up the flags.

"Then they really shouldn't have fallen for Jose's obvious trap and attacked them back like they did." stated Natsu as he tossed his apple core into the trees.

"Once again true, but if you don't help them out then Fairy Tail could no longer exist in a few more minutes." he stated with what Natsu could only assume was a frown but couldn't tell since he could only see Mystogan's eyes.

"Guilds close down all the time Mystogan it just happens sometimes and now might be Fairy Tail's time." replied Natsu as he leaned against the base of the tee he was sitting on.

"You and I both know that isn't how Jose is going to finish this." said Mystogan now glaring at Natsu.

"True but once again it comes back to me no longer caring since I'm no longer a member." he replied with a grin.

"Even if Levy or Mira get caught up in it?" asked Mystogan as he felt the temperature start to rise.

"Jose and the rest of Phantom know that those two are off limits." he growled back.

"But what if they do Natsu?" asked Mystogan once again.

"Then I'd kill Jose and hunt down every last member of his and make them pay. But that won't happen since I already let them know what would happen if they didn't heed my warning." he replied with a scowl.

"Jose already used his Jupiter Cannon once what's to stop him from using it again. And it could even take out that hill you used to always visit after Lisanna's passing." stated Mystogan who then found himself pinned up against a tree with Natsu barring his fangs at him.

"Then I would literally kill every single one of them in the most excruciating and painful way possible." snarled Natsu as he glared at Mystogan.

"If that is what you'd do, don't you think you should go and prevent it from ever even happening?" asked Mystogan as he was let go of in a rough manner.

"That's my decision to make, so what is the real reason you wanted to talk with me Mystogan?" asked Natsu.

"The real reason why I wanted to talk to you was about all those rumors that sprung up about you being kicked out of Fairy Tail. And why no other Master would accept you into their guild." he said as he reached for the last few flags only to watch them turn to ash in an instant.

"What about those rumors?" asked Natsu now completely covered in red flames and glaring at the mage.

 **With Fairy Tail:**

"One more minute Fairies, then I'll never have to hear about your puny guild again." laughed Jose from his office.

"What the hell is taking those two so long?" asked Cana as she took out two more shades.

"I don't know but they need to hurry." stated Macao. Only for everyone to stop as a loud roar could be heard coming from the distance that made all who heard it shiver at the raw anger contained in that roar.

"What the fuck can even make a roar like that?" asked Wakaba as a red ball of fire crashed into the ground in front of them. They all looked at the crash site to see a head of pink hair emerge as Natsu stood up with the most pissed off expression they've ever seen on him before.

"Natsu what are you doing?" asked Mira only to be completely ignored.

"JOSE!" screamed Natsu with nothing but pure hatred.

 **End of Chapter**

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Thanks for reading and I hope you liked what I did with this chapter. So as you can see Natsu definitely cares about at least two members from Fairy Tail. And I would say is probably confused by the rest with one of them on the border line of hate, which I am sure you can guess who that person is. Well I honestly don't have anything else to say here so as always feel free to leave me a review and I'll try to reply back as soon as I can.**

 **Until the next Chapter**

 **Digem Out!**


	5. The Destruction of a Guild

Ch 5: The Destruction of a Guild

"JOSE YOU MADE THE WORST FUCKING MISTAKE OF YOUR LIFE WHEN YOU MESSED WITH MY LIFE! IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIFE GET AWAY FROM THE CANNON AS FAR AS YOU CAN!" shouted Natsu as he got into a stance that every Fairy Tail member was extremely familiar with. The cannon started to glow just like it did before it fired fifteen minutes earlier, but unfortunately for Phantom Natsu didn't need more than a second to ready his attack.

 **"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!"** shouted Natsu as a large amount of red fire shot from his mouth and into the cannon. It was the biggest roar of his that anyone had ever seen, but what everyone noticed more than that was the insane amount of heat coming from it. It was hot enough to actually get the barrel of the cannon to start glowing, but before they could even question what that meant a large explosion went off inside of the guild.

Everyone watched as the cannon's barrel tumbled into the water leaving in its wake a giant hole in the guild where its power source used to be stored. They all watched as a few more explosions went off in that area as other parts of the guild hall started to crumble. Only one thought was going through everyone's mind right now was what in the world did Jose do to get Natsu this angry, that and anyone who didn't listen to his warning was most likely dead now.

"Natsu what's going on?" asked Mira, one of the few people not stunned to complete silence.

"TODAY JOSE DIES!" growled Natsu as he glared at the guild hall.

"Why must he die?" she asked slightly scared of the Natsu in front of her.

"ALL OF THIS WAS HIS DOING AND HE'S GOING TO PAY FOR THAT!" he growled without looking at her and started to walk towards the guild hall.

"What did he mean by that?" asked Cana as she came up to Mira as they watched Natsu start throwing red fireballs at the oncoming shades. That were instantly reduced to nothing as the fireballs continued on with their trajectory which happened to be directed at Phantom's guild hall. And when each of the fireballs made contact there was a large explosion that took out chunks of the building like they were nothing.

"I think he figured out who spread those rumors about him and got all of the other guilds to not take him in." replied Mira with a concerned look since she'd never seen Natsu this angry.

"Hello again Salamander, it would seem that you found out about my little secret." came the voice of Jose from somewhere inside of the guild. Natsu's only response was a quick snarl as he continued to bombard the shades and the guild hall to his heart's content.

"Such a shame Salamander, if you hadn't figured that out we could have done great things together." stated Jose with a tone that let everyone know he was just smiling at all of this.

"JOSE I'M GOING TO ENJOY BEING THE LAST THING YOU SEE IN THIS LIFE!" shouted Natsu as he stopped hurling fireballs since Jose stopped sending out his shades.

"I really doubt that Salamander, because my Jupiter Cannon was just one of the many things that I have up my sleeve." laughed Jose as the guild hall started to change. And once it completed its transformation all of Fairy Tail was shocked to see a robot standing before them that was in the process of casting a spell.

"That thing can use magic!" shouted Macao, voicing everyone else's shock at the moment.

"Not only that but the spell it's casting will take out the whole town." said Mira in a hopeless voice.

"See Fairy Tail, you never had a chance in the first place. Even with Salamander fighting with you now, nothing will stop me." chuckled Jose.

"He's fucking insane!" shouted Wakaba.

"You'll be branded as a dark mage if you do this!" shouted Cana, hoping that hearing this would knock some sense into the man.

"With this show of power the Council will have to listen to me!" yelled Jose to only start laughing again, but everyone was shocked when the sound of someone else laughing joined in. And they were even more surprised when it was revealed to be Natsu that was now laughing like a madman, which Jose wasn't a fan of.

"What the hell are you laughing at Salamander?" asked Jose in an angry tone as Natsu continued to laugh like a madman for another minute.

"Pretty much everything about all of this Jose, I tried to distance myself from Fairy Tail but the only job I could get was attacking their guild hall and then holding them off when they retaliated. Another thing I was laughing at was that you just answered a question I had about myself and actually talked with a friend about just moments ago. But the funniest thing about all of this is you think you actually have a future and are concerned about the Council when you should be more concerned about the dragon you just pissed off." replied Natsu with a smirk.

"We'll see about that Salamander, but I am curious about this question I answered for you." stated Jose.

"Oh you'll learn all about that later on Jose, trust me on that one. But now I have something else I need to do so until then Jose." he said as he turned around and started to walk towards the town.

"You're leaving just like that Salamander, even after such big talk?" asked Jose in an amused tone.

"Yep, but that reminds me. ANY PHANTOM MAGE THAT HASN'T SURRENDERED BY THE TIME I GET BACK IS LIKELY TO LOSE THEIR LIFE IF I RUN INTO THEM ON MY WAY TO JOSE!" shouted Natsu loud enough for all of Phantom to hear and then turn around and head into town while whistling a happy little tune.

"Where the hell do you think you're going." came the angry voice of Jose, making Fairy Tail think that he was talking to Natsu until his next comment was heard.

"I'm your Master so you have to obey my commands." he shouted angrily as Fairy Tail noticed a few members of Phantom coming out of the guild with their hands up.

"Are you really more afraid of Salamander than me?" shouted Jose as he then sent out his shades to start attacking his own guild members.

"Anyone that tries to surrender is no longer a member of Phantom Lord, and I expect all loyal members to treat them as if they were Fairies." ordered Jose as he started to laugh his crazed laugh again.

"What in the world just happened here?" asked Cana with a confused look.

"It would appear that Natsu got them to turn on themselves." replied Mira with a slight grin that was gone once more shades started to head their way again.

"Where the hell did go off too at a time like this?" asked Macao.

"Considering that he just single handedly took care of the Jupiter Cannon for us I think he knows what he's doing." shouted Alzack as he continued to take out one shade after another with his pistols.

"Couldn't agree with you more on that one partner." said Bisca as she took out three shades with one shot.

"Since when have you two had such faith in Natsu?" asked Wakaba as he looked at the two of them as if he had just met them.

"Always have." replied Alzack with a smirk.

"Same for me, especially after he saved the both of us on that one job." explained Bisca as she switched to her machine gun and unloaded on a swarm of the shades.

"Still don't even know why he was there." stated Alzack still smirking.

"I don't care since we wouldn't be here otherwise." said Bisca as she smiled fondly at Alzack who grinned back at her.

"Get a room you two." hollered Cana as she sent cards at the endless shades that were attacking them once again.

 **With Gajeel:**

"Did you really think that your little safe house would keep me from finding you?" asked Gajeel as he grinned at Lucy who was backed into a corner. After Reedus and Loke were taken out by the dragon slayer in front of her and looking at her like she was just a toy to him.

"Come on Gajeel quite toying with her, what every made that roar creeps me out." said Boze with a nervous look.

"Yeah Gajeel, not to mention those explosions that were going off just a little bit ago." stated Sue who looked terrified.

"Would you two quite being a bunch of little bitches." he growled back at them.

"Why are you doing this?" asked Lucy in a frightened tone.

"You already know that, because your dad will pay anything to get his precious little daughter back." he replied with a smile.

"Then you don't know my father at all, he couldn't care less about me." stated Lucy with a frown.

"Doesn't really matter to me, since I am doing this for the fun of taking down you smug little fairies." he said while chuckling to himself.

"What the hell is that?" asked Lucy as she pointed behind them.

"Sorry little girl but we're not going to fall for that." stated Gajeel with a smirk, as he then started to hear some strangled gasps and felt an aura he would rather not be feeling right now.

"You probably should have listened to her Black Steel, and now I'm going to ask you a similar question to the one you asked her just a bit ago. Did you think not being at your guild would prevent me from finding you?" asked Natsu as he held the other two mages by their throats while he was completely covered in red flames. Gajeel watched as Natsu continued to choke the two mages until they both stopped moving and tossed them aside while a creepy grin made its way across his face.

"Salamander I didn't touch either of them just like you said." replied Gajeel as he started to back away from him.

"Oh I know that Black Steel which is why I won't kill you today since you were smart enough to listen to me. But that won't save you from the beating you're going to receive for getting my best friend killed." he said while walking towards Gajeel who was still backing away. The only reason that Gajeel was backing away from Natsu right now was because every fiber in his body was telling him that he wasn't in his right mind right now. And the flames that surrounded him right now were stronger than any of the flames he saw him use before, which were still some of the most destructive magic he's ever seen before.

"What are you talking about Salamander, I never helped get any of your friends killed?" asked Gajeel as he rolled out of the way of a flaming punch that destroyed the wall behind him.

"Oh yes you did Black Steel and I plan on breaking most of your bones so you'll remember to never do something like that again." said Natsu as he threw some more wild punches at Gajeel.

"You've fucking lost it Salamander, I never did any of that!" he shouted while hitting Natsu away with an iron club.

"So you're saying that you and the rest of your guild didn't spread the rumors about me being kicked out of Fairy Tail?" asked Natsu as he glared at the man.

"Yes I did but that couldn't have caused one of your friends to die." he replied only to be hit through a wall.

"You might want to evacuate the surrounding area Lucy." said Natsu as he looked at her, who was still standing there too stunned by what just happened to her to move, as he then jumped through the hole that Gajeel made with his body.

"You know it's pointless to run from a dragon slayer Black Steel." said Natsu as he went down an alley where the other's sent let him to.

 **"IRON DRAGON'S SWORD!"** shouted Gajeel as he lunged at Natsu from behind, just barely missing his target.

"You're right Salamander it is pointless to try and run from one of us, but laying traps is never really a bad thing." he said with a smirk as the blades on the edge of his sword started to spin until they became a blur.

"Nice sword Black Steel, I might take that from you once we're done." stated Natsu with a grin.

"This is my fucking arm you idiot!" he shouted while lunging at him once again, only for it to just barely be dodged by him.

"I know that Black Steel and I still think I might take it as a trophy." said Natsu with the grin he'd always been using on Gajeel.

"You've really fucking lost it Salamander!" shouted Gajeel as he brought his sword down. But was surprised when rather than dodging it like Natsu had always been doing before, this time he stopped it with the palm of his hands on both sides of the blade.

"I thought that you would have figured out by now Black Steel that I never really had it in the first place." he replied with the same grin as his hands started to make the blade turn to a bright orange. But before he could do anymore Gajeel delivered a swift kick to his chest and sent him flying into a different building.

"You know what Salamander this might have been the first time that my instincts were wrong, because they have been telling me to run this whole time. But you're just like any other mage that I've met before, maybe a little crazier but nonetheless still the same. You'll bleed just like the rest of them." stated Gajeel with a smirk as Natsu slowly emerged from the rubble.

"We'll see about that Black Steel." he said before sprinting at him ready to start the real fight.

 **Ten minutes later:**

"What did I say Salamander, you're just like the rest of them." said a panting Gajeel as he looked over at Natsu. Who looked a lot worse for wear than he did just ten minutes ago, his coat was no longer on him and his remaining clothing had a few cuts and blood stains thanks to his opponent. The only piece of his not harmed was a different green armband wrapped around the same place as the one he had on his coat.

"From my experience our dragon instincts are never wrong." replied Natsu once again having that creepy grin of his.

"As they say Salamander there's a first time for everything!" shouted Gajeel as he lunged at Natsu only for his face to be slammed into the ground by a swift kick.

"Yes but not this time Black Steel." he said while bringing down his foot right where Gajeel's head used to be and smashing through the street.

"Are you fucking trying to kill me now?" asked Gajeel as he looked at where his head used to be just seconds ago.

"Nope, but you are the iron dragon slayer which means I don't have to hold back. And I need to end this quickly so I can go and kill Jose and maybe a few of your other members while I'm at it." he said with that same grin.

"Like I'd let you, IRON DRAGON'S LANCE!" shouted Gajeel as both of his arms turned into iron poles and shot at Natsu. Who effortlessly dodged in between them, which brought him right in front of Gajeel.

 **"FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FISTS!"** shouted Natsu as he started to hit Gajeel over and over again while he couldn't block. As soon as Gajeel got his arms back to normal Natsu stopped his barrage of punches and picked Gajeel up by his throat.

 **"FIRE DRAGON'S GRIP STRIKE!"** said Natsu as fire erupted from his hand and hit Gajeel point blank and launched him into the air. Gajeel was able to right himself only to realize that Natsu was no longer standing in his previous spot.

 **"FIRE DRAGON'S CLAW!"** shouted Natsu as he appeared behind Gajeel and brought a flaming foot down on said dragon slayer. All of those strikes in a row caused Gajeel to finally let out a pain filled scream as he was launched back down into the ground.

"How are you doing this Salamander?" asked Gajeel as he staggered back to his feet and glared at his opponent.

"I now know all of your moves now and how you fight Black Steel. Or did you really think everything before this was me actually fighting you?" he asked with a smirk.

"Like hell you let me beat the shit out of you to learn all of my moves!" shouted Gajeel.

"I don't really care if you believe me or not Black Steel, because either way I am still going to beat the living shit out of you." he said while getting into a very familiar stance. Seeing his stance Gajeel got into the same one so they could see who was the stronger dragon out of the two of them.

 **"FIRE/IRON DRAGON'S ROAR!"** they shouted together as their elements collided in the middle as they fought for supremacy. For a few moments Gajeel thought he was going to win this that is until he noticed his roar starting to change to the color of orange as Natsu's crimson flames inched closer and closer.

"Okay Salamander I'll admit defeat to you on that one, but it means nothing if can't hurt me." said Gajeel after diving out of the way of Natsu's roar.

"So you think you have a trump card do you?" asked Natsu as he started to walk casually towards him.

"Yes I do Salamander, **IRON DRAGON'S SCALES.** " he said with a smirk as all of this skin was now covered in metal scales.

"Have you really not been paying attention Black Steel." replied Natsu with a grin.

"It would seem to me that you aren't the one paying attention Salamander, because with these scales you can't touch me." he laughed.

 **"FIRE DRAGON'S SWORD HORN!"** shouted Natsu as he head butted Gajeel in the chest and sent him flying through a nearby building. Natsu stood there and waited to see what affect his move had on Gajeel, when he emerged from the wreckage of the building Natsu wasn't surprised to see no signs of damage.

"What did I tell you Salamander, this fight's as good as mine." shouted Gajeel as he threw a punch at him only for it to be caught by a now smiling Natsu.

"You do know I specialize in destroying things Black Steel and I would love to demonstrate that on your scales. But I have a different plan, let's see how long it takes for me to melt them right off of you!" he said while catching Gajeel's other fist and starting to concentrate all of his fire on his two hands.

"Like I'd let that happen." said Gajeel as he tried to kick him away but was blocked by Natsu's own foot.

"I already told you that I learned all of your moves and fighting style Black Steel. So you have two options here, the first is we see how long you can stand the heat which by the looks of it is not much longer." said Natsu with a grin as more fire started to shoot out of his hands as Gajeel's fists and arms were starting to turn orange.

"Fuck you Salamander." hissed Gajeel as he tried to break free again but realized how weak he was right now.

"I was hoping you would say that Black Steel because the second option was you turn off these scales and accept the beat down you have coming. But since you probably won't do that we're going with option one so let's turn up the heat." he said as his red fire shot into the air and consumed them both as Gajeel let out another pain filled scream. After a complete minute of that it finally died down to reveal a severely burned Gajeel barely awake on the ground no longer covered in his iron scales.

"So do you think Jose will be mad enough to attack me if I break all of your arms and legs Black Steel?" asked Natsu as he went to one knee to be at the iron dragon slayer's level.

"You're a fucking monster!" choked out Gajeel.

"I already told you that Black Steel, just last night when you asked Levy a similar question to the one I just asked you." he replied while bringing down his foot onto Gajeel's knee and causing him to scream out in pain as it was crushed.

"So back to the whole dragon instincts thing, it would appear that yours was correct the whole time." he said while doing the same thing to the other knee.

"But do you know what the best part about all of this is?" he asked while grabbing Gajeel's arm and getting no response from the mage. So with a quick jerk he broke the arm getting Gajeel to once again scream out in pain.

"Come on Black Steel you really should answer a question when someone is talking to you." he stated while smiling down on him.

"Fuck you Salamander, like I would give a shit what the best part of this is to you." replied Gajeel as he glared at him definitely.

"You normally wouldn't but since it concerns you I guess I might as well tell you. The best part about all of this right here is we both know that you aren't going to die from this, which means we can do it all over again once you heal correctly." he explained only to break his last arm and drop him to the ground. Natsu then bent down so he was just a few inches away from Gajeel's face.

"I'm guessing that it will take you a month to fully heal so let's plan to have another fight then." he whispered while giving Gajeel that same creepy grin he always gave him. Only to stand up and start walking away while whistling the same happy tune as before as he walked through the destroyed part of town that the two dragons created during their fight.

 **With Mira and most of Fairy Tail:**

"They actually did it!" cheered Cana and the rest of Fairy Tail as the robot stopped casting the Abyss Break spell.

"Yes but we still have to deal with Jose." pointed out Mira with a concerned look as she continued to try and find a certain dragon slayer.

"I completely forgot about him, you don't think they'll try and take him on do you?" asked Macao with a concerned look.

"Considering that Erza is with them, no not all of them. But I'm afraid that she'll try and take him on all alone, which is why I'm wondering where Natsu went to." stated Mira as she continued to look for him.

"I know where he is." shouted Lucy as she came running to them but once she got there she couldn't speak since she was out of breath.

"Is my whole guild full of incompetent morons, Gajeel couldn't even capture a single girl. Well I guess I'll just have to do it all by myself." came the voice of Jose from the speakers that he had been using the whole time.

"Gajeel tried to kidnap you?" asked Cana with a concerned look.

"Yes but Natsu stopped him and then they started to fight." replied Lucy in between gasps for air.

"So what's what he decided to do." replied Mira with a faint smile.

"Do you think he'll be fine?" asked Macao with a slightly concerned look.

"I honestly didn't think you cared about me anymore." said Natsu with a grin as he walked towards them. Allowing all of them to see the shape that he was in, most of the girls covered their mouths in shock at all of the cuts littering his body now.

"Natsu you need medical attention now." stated Mira as she came up to him.

"Calm down Mira most of these are just flesh wounds that I let him give me." he replied while walking past her and looking at the guild hall that was no longer casting a spell.

"How did you get here so fast Natsu?" asked Lucy who only just arrived seconds before him.

"I'm not out of shape Lucy, it was less than a mile and my fight with Black Steel was heading this direction also." he explained as he tossed his coat to the side and rolled his neck and shoulders.

"I'm not out of shape you jerk and I take it you beat Gajeel?" she asked while glaring at him.

"Of course I did and he won't be doing much for at least a month." he replied with a grin that creeped them out.

"What did you do to him Natsu?" asked Mira hoping it wasn't too bad.

"I just beat him fair and square in a fight Mira, and then did to him what he was planning to do to Shadow Gear." he said while starting to head towards the guild hall of Phantom Lord.

"You broke his arms and legs after he was already defeated?" asked Lucy with a shocked and slightly scared expression.

"Yes I did, and he's lucky that I didn't take his head after what he did." growled Natsu who was about to go but was stopped by someone grabbing his arm. He turned around to see that it was Mira looking at him with a really concerned look.

"Natsu you need to be healed before you can go and start fighting again." said Mira as she looked at him with pleading eyes.

"I'm fine Mira." he replied while turning away.

"No you're not Natsu, and I don't think I could stand it if you went in there and died. I've already lost most of my family Natsu, and Elfman hasn't returned yet so he's …" she said with a frown only for Natsu to stop her by pressing a finger against her lips.

"Mira don't you even start thinking like that, he's fine and I will make sure of it and send him right back out. And I guess I could use a little pick me up before I head in there. Everyone who can use fire send me everything you've got." stated Natsu as he stepped away from Mira and instantly received five different spells of fire that he consumed until they couldn't give him any more.

"Thanks guys, now I need to go and have a little chat with Jose." said Natsu as he was then covered in crimson flames.

"Please help everyone else too." stated Mira right before he shot into the air and headed straight towards the guild hall leaving a crimson trail in his wake.

"He sure has changed a lot." said Cana with a slight frown.

"Maybe on the outside Cana but deep down he's still the same person we've known for years." replied Mira with a slight smile.

 **With Natsu several minutes later:**

"Salamander believe me when I tell you that I was trying to leave earlier but Jose and some of the other members turned on anyone trying to leave!" explained a Phantom Lord mage as he backed away from him.

"Oh I believe you, but it doesn't really matter since your whole guild is responsible for Happy's death." shouted Natsu as his flames flared up.

"But that isn't true Salamander, only a few of us did that." stuttered the mage now backed against a wall with on where to run.

"Every single one of you Phantom Lord mages have said that exact same thing to me. And since I don't have enough time to figure out who's lying to me I'll just take every last one of you out." he replied while cracking a grin at the mage.

"Please don't kill me!" begged the mage before his head was smashed into the wall.

"I really should but he wouldn't want me killing someone that might not deserve it." he growled then smashed the poor mage's head into the wall again and dropped the body as he continued on his path towards Jose and the members of Fairy Tail.

"Oh dear god it's Salamander!" shouted another mage as he took off down the hall he just came from.

"JOSE FACE ME LIKE A MAN YOU COWARD!" screamed Natsu as he continued to make his way through the guild. Taking out any Phantom Lord mage that was dumb enough to not stay more than ten yards away from him. That is until he ran into one that made him stop in his tracks.

"Natsu-san?" she asked with a slightly scared smile as he stared at her with an angry expression.

"Why are you doing this to Juvia's guild?" she asked while taking a step closer to him.

"Did you help them?" he asked in a growl.

"Did Juvia help them with what Natsu-san, and you still haven't told Juvia why you're doing this?" asked Juvia while gesturing to the completely destroyed room that had a few mages knocked out because of him.

"Your fucking guild deserves to be wiped off the map Juvia is the reason why I'm doing this. Now tell me did you help them with it?" said Natsu as he glared at her with raw hatred.

"What did Juvia's guild do to make you want to destroy it so badly Natsu-san?" she asked nervously as she started to back away from him.

"THEY KILLED MY BEST FRIEND NOW TELL ME JUVIA DID YOU FUCKING HELP THEM IN ANY WAY!" he shouted at her now completely covered in his crimson flames as he glared at her. Juvia kept backing away from him in complete fear now with a shocked look on her face.

"Juvia would never do such a thing to her friend." she stated now backed into a corner.

"WE WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN FRIENDS THEN JUVIA, SO DID YOU HELP THEM SPREAD RUMORS ABOUT ME. THAT EVENTUALLY LED TO MY BEST FRIEND DYING RIGHT BEFORE MY VERY EYES?" he asked in a deep voice now only a yard away from her.

"No Natsu-san, Juvia would never do something like that." she said now in tears as one of the few people that actually cared about her before was now glaring at her with such hatred. But to her shock in just a second Natsu's flames and glare vanished just like that and was replaced with a slight look of shame.

"Sorry Juvia, I just had to be sure that you didn't have anything to do with it." he said while turning away from her and heading back on his original path.

"Natsu-san, Juvia is so sorry about what her guild did to you." she said while cautiously getting closer to him.

"It's fine Juvia, you had nothing to do with it but I'd get out of here before it gets worse." he replied while coming to a complete stop.

"What are you planning on doing Natsu-san?" she asked now right behind him.

"I'm going to kill him." he stated only to have Juvia hug him from behind.

"Please don't fight him Natsu-san, Master Jose is too strong and he'll kill you. And Juvia couldn't stand losing one of her only friends." she said while hugging him tighter.

"He has to pay for what he's done." growled Natsu as he tried to break free from her grasps as gently as possible.

"Yes he does Natsu-san but let someone else like the Council do it." she begged while still hugging him.

"Sorry Juvia but it has to be me, now let go of me and get out of here." came his reply in a harsh tone.

"Only if you promise to not die on Juvia." stated Juvia as she continued to hold him.

"I promise that I won't die today." he said in his usual tone, which brought a smile to the girl's face.

"Then Juvia will be waiting for you outside." she said while letting go of him and smiling at him.

"I'll see you then Juvia." replied Natsu with a smirk and left her alone in the room.

"Be careful Natsu-sama." whispered Juvia with a faint blush as she turned around and headed out.

 **With Erza and the rest:**

"I have to commend you brats for reducing my guild to such a sorry state, but most of that can be attributed to that bloody Salamander coming back." said Jose with a look of disgust as he held Erza with his darkness magic which happened to be causing her great pain.

"From what I hear he's coming for your head." she replied before letting out a scream of pain.

"Well he's not here now and it would seem that he still cares about your weak guild. So I wonder how he'll react to finding all of you dead at my feet, I can only imagine the look on his face." he said with a sneer as Erza screamed out in pain again.

"And once I defeat Salamander it will only make my victory over Makarov that much better. Since he'll realize that all of this is his fault for thinking so high and mighty of himself." chuckled Jose as Grey and Elfman struggled to their feet.

"We're not going to let any of that happen." stated Grey as he leaned against Elfman for support.

"You have to be kidding me you two can barely stand let alone fight." laughed Jose as he looked at the two mages he thought he had already taken out.

"That still won't stop us from taking you down." he replied with a smirk as the temperature started to rise and someone with a lot of magic was heading their way.

"Those will be some nice final words, **DEAD WAVE!** " shouted Jose as he sent a wave of Darkness Magic shooting at the two barely standing mages.

"NOOO!" screamed Erza as she watched helplessly as Grey and Elfman remained there with grins on their faces as the attack came flying at them. She watched as an explosion went off right in front of the two and crimson fire shot everywhere.

 **"FIRE DRAGON'S SHIELD."** said Natsu with a smirk now standing in front of the two with his arms crossed into an X with crimson fire covering them.

"Always showing up to be the big hero eh Salamander." stated Jose with a scowl.

"Far from it Jose, I only came here to take your head nothing more and nothing less." he replied while inspecting Jose for any signs of damage, which there was unfortunately none that he could see. But while he was doing this, Jose was doing the exact same thing but having better results. Natsu now had numerous cuts and bruises that he got from fighting Gajeel that would be easy to target and bring the dragon slayer great pain. But something else stuck out to Jose, which were the scales forming under his eyes and on his forearms that were barely noticeable if you weren't looking for anything different about him.

"You seem different Salamander, what did you do?" asked Jose for Natsu to disappear and reappear right in front of him.

 **"FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!"** was all Jose heard before being launched backwards and dropping Erza to the ground.

"You three need to leave now because this is going to get ugly." stated Natsu as he walked towards Jose. Having to jump to the side as a blast of Jose's magic came flying at him and exploded a pillar that was behind him.

"Like I'd let them just leave like that." he said while building up magic.

"Not really your choice Jose, **FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!** " shouted Natsu as he unleashed his third roar of the day.

 **"DEAD WAVE!"** shouted Jose hoping to easily overpower the roar and start his counter attack. But he was shocked when it looked like his spell was going to lose so he started to put more magic behind it, and had to keep putting more behind it just to make sure that he wasn't overpowered.

"How do you have even more power than you did before Salamander?" shouted Jose after they both cut off their spells.

"Why the hell would I tell you that Jose, and I'm going all out since they don't give the title of Wizard Saint to anybody. And why the fuck are you three still here?" he replied while giving a quick glare at the three mages from Fairy Tail.

"We're here to help you out Natsu." said Erza with a soft smile.

"Yeah Flame Brain we're not just going to leave you all by yourself with this lunatic." stated Grey with a grin.

"Retreating is not very manly." shouted Elfman.

"Leave now or you're going to get yourself killed." shouted Natsu as he charged at Jose who was dodging most of his strikes with a look of ease.

"You really should listen to Salamander on this one." stated Jose with a grin as he continued to dodge or parry Natsu's punches and kicks.

"Like hell we'd ever listen to you." said Grey as he glared at Jose.

"Yeah Fairy Tail never leaves behind one of their own." declared Elfman as he got ready to charge in.

"Leave right fucking now or I'm going to be the one attacking you." growled Natsu after sliding back from a kick Jose landed on his chest.

"Natsu we just want to help." explained Erza as she glared at him since she still wasn't used to him not cowering before her anymore.

"And the best way to do that is by leaving right now. **FIRE DRAGON'S CLAW!** " shouted Natsu as he jumped over Jose and did a kick while twisting around. But unfortunately Jose was able to put his guard up just in time and blocked most of the damage.

 **"DEAD SHOTS!"** bellowed Jose as he started to shot smaller versions of his Dead Wave at Natsu. Who was now on the defense and was jumping all over the place to keep away from them.

"Natsu I really think…" started Erza but got cut off.

 **"FIRE DRAGON'S IMPLOSION!"** shouted Natsu who was now in between all of them but was a third of the distance away from Jose when compared with the others. The next thing the mages from Fairy Tail knew they were thrown through the wall behind them that luckily blocked the crimson flames that came afterwards. That would have given all of them severe burns and probably taken them all out.

"Fuck, he's not joking around is he." stated Grey as he got back up with a few grunts and proceeded to help the others.

"It would appear so." said Erza not accepting Grey's offer of assistance and looked back into the room that they were ejected out of. They were all shocked to see what was left of the room which was pretty much nothing except for the wall that they were thrown through. The ceiling and other walls were gone allowing them to look out and see the lake that the guild was standing in right now. And in the epicenter of the damage stood Natsu Dragneel glaring at Jose Porla with nothing but pure malice in his eyes.

"You almost got me with that move Salamander." stated Jose while dusting off some of the dust that was now on his clothing.

"That's only the beginning Jose." declared Natsu as he charged Jose.

 **"DEAD SHOTS!"** shouted Jose as he tried to keep his distance from Natsu who was more skilled at close quarter combat. So of course it would be to his advantage to keep Natsu away from him where the fire dragon slayer had less moves.

"Trying to keep my at a distance won't work Jose." said Natsu as he kept dodging the shots thrown at him.

"Seems to me that it is Salamander, **DARK PULSE!"** he said while swiping his arm causing all of the area around Natsu to explode and letting them all hear a pain filled scream come from the dragon slayer.

"Why didn't I do this earlier, **DARK PULSE!** " he shouted again and again as Natsu was unable to dodge the attacks and could only yell out in pain.

"That should be enough for even someone as strong as you Salamander, **SHADE ENTANGLE!** " said Jose with a smug look as his ghosts picked up Natsu immobilizing him completely. Just like he had done to Erza minutes earlier, but this time it was better since Natsu had his head down in defeat.

"We need to help him." said Grey as he was about to charge in until Natsu finally spoke up, well more like started to laugh. And it wasn't your normal laugh mind you; this was a laugh that would give you nightmares because of how deranged and crazy it sounded.

"Do you really think a weak spell like that could hold back a dragon's rage!" shouted Natsu as crimson flames coated him and completely destroyed the ghosts that were trying to hold him. He dropped to the floor and landed in a crouching position still with his head down as cracks started to go out from his location as anything flammable caught on fire.

"That's impossible, you should be almost dead after all of those attacks." stuttered Jose as Natsu and what appeared to be a red dragon where now in front of him and far from dead.

"I would have been too if I didn't go all out since the beginning Jose." he replied as he lifted his head up and revealed that his eyes were no longer just onyx but had red slits going through them and looked reptilian now.

"Your eyes, they've changed." stated Jose as he pointed to them in shock.

 **"FIRE DRAGON ARROWS!"** he shouted as he started to throw the same fireballs that he used against the shades earlier, except for the explosions were bigger this time. And the three Fairy Tail wizards watched as Jose was caught off guard by this and was taking direct hits and now screaming out in pain.

"I think he has this one under control." said Erza with a slight smirk as she turned away and started to leave.

"What a man." stated Elfman before following after her with Grey taking another look at the enraged dragon slayer tossing fire at the man responsible for all of this before following them.

"Please stop Salamander!" shouted Jose and was surprised when the barrage stopped completely. Once again his mind was already coming up with a trick of how to turn this around on Salamander, when he remembered his plan from earlier if something like this were to happen.

"You should never show kindness to your enemies Salamander!" he shouted as he pulled out a button from one of his pockets and pressed it with a wicked grin. That then went to a confused one when Natsu stood there completely fine with a grin on his face as he reached into his own pocket. And then pulled out some small capsules and let them fall to the floor to Jose's horror.

"I don't plan on it Jose, **FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FISTS!** " shouted Natsu as he launched into a savaged attack on the unprepared Wizard Saint that lasted for a few more minutes. And it consisted of a wide variety of his moves, which finally ended with a bruised and beaten Jose barely able to stand.

"Now for the finisher Jose, **FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!** " he shouted as his crimson flames hit Jose while he was completely unprepared. After he stopped his roar a burnt Jose dropped to the floor still alive thanks to his overall strength and durability which is required to become a Wizard Saint.

"How?" asked Jose as he tried to not scream out because of the considerable pain that he was in.

"Which part are you talking about Jose? If it's about finding the pills that you put into my food before I left, the answer to that is I smelt them since they are really potent stuff that could have easily killed me. But if you are wondering how I was able to survive those attacks and then beat the living shit out of you, well that is actually thanks to you and what you did to me before I even started to work for you." said Natsu as he knelt down so he was right next to Jose.

"How did I do that?" he asked through clenched teeth.

"When I lost Happy that day something inside of me either snapped or broke. Doesn't really matter which one, but after that I was able to access something related to my dragon slaying magic that I didn't even know existed. And while using whatever you want to call it all of my fighting attributes go up to where it feels like I could actually take on a dragon if I had to." explained Natsu with a sly grin.

"Impossible." he hissed at him.

"You're probably right about that last part Jose; I probably still couldn't even touch a dragon. But that doesn't really matter since it was just enough for me to be able to beat your sorry ass and leave you in the state that you're in right now." said Natsu with a chuckle as his scales disappeared and his eyes went back to normal.

"You'll pay for this Salamander." he growled out while glaring up at him.

"Once again you're probably right about that Jose, but one thing for sure is that you won't be the one doing it. And do you know why that is Jose?" asked Natsu with a creepy grin that caused Jose to once again swear that a red dragon was behind Natsu and glaring down at him.

"Don't worry Jose I'll tell you since you seem to have forgotten how to speak. And the reason I know that you won't be doing it is because you're going to be dead within the next ten minutes." he said with the same grin as he had before.

Outside with Fairy Tail:

"Elfman you're alright." yelled Mira as she sprinted to her brother and hugged him.

"Of course I am Mira, I wasn't going to let a Phantom mage get the best of me." he stated proudly as Natsu's roar could be seen shooting out of the Phantom's guild hall behind him.

"We got really lucky that Natsu showed up when he did." stated Erza with a slight smile as she looked at the crimson flames shooting out of the guild.

"He definitely knows how to make an entrance." stated Grey with a grin as he watched the flames with everyone else.

"I wanted to ask the two of you why you both just stood there when Jose attacked you like that?" she asked while glaring at the two of them for doing something so stupid.

"I could feel Flame Brain coming and knew we would be fine." he replied as if that should have been obvious.

"Same for me." stated Elfman as Mira finally let go of him.

"Well that was probably the stupidest thing I've seen in a long time and I don't want to see either of you doing something like that again." she declared while looking at them with a slight smile since it worked out for them.

"That roar was just about as big as what he used to take out the cannon." pointed out Macao as the flames finally vanished.

"How does he have that much power?" asked Wakaba knowing that none of them had an answer for him.

"Was that all just for one person?" asked Cana after taking a large swig from a bottle of booze that she got from who knows where.

"Yes it was Cana and the person that Natsu is fighting is none other than Jose. And why is Natsu this mad at Jose, because wasn't he just working for him a few hours ago?" asked Erza as she looked at all of them and finally stopped on Mira for an answer.

"I don't know how but Natsu found out that Jose was responsible for him not getting into any guild and all of those rumors about him spreading." answered Mira with a frown.

"That bastard no wonder he's so pissed." she said wanting to go back in there and help Natsu beat the shit out of the man. But stopped when a loud scream came from the guild hall that sounded like whoever made it was in the worst pain of their life.

"Is he trying to kill him?" asked Grey only for everyone but the group that was in Phantom Lords guild to look away.

"Why did everybody look away when Grey asked that?" asked Elfman with a confused look.

"Because that's exactly what Natsu plans to do." replied Lucy with a frown as more screams could be heard coming from the guild.

"You can't be serious, and you just now thought it would be a good idea to tell us." shouted Erza as she turned to head for the guild hall but was stopped by Mira.

"Erza I don't like this anymore than you do, but Natsu blames Jose for Happy's death so there's nothing we can do." stated Mira with a frown.

"You didn't even try Mira, and I'm not going to let him do something like that." she declared as she shook off Mira's grasp of her and headed into the guild.

"Stop Erza!" came the voice of someone that they all didn't expect to hear.

"Master?" asked Erza as she turned around to see the elderly guild Master walking towards her as more screams could be heard.

"Yes Erza and I need to go try and fix this before it gets even worse than it already is." he stated while passing her and heading into the guild to have a few words with the dragon slayer.

 **With Natsu and Jose:**

"Looks like you're at the end of the line Jose. But I did promise to tell you what question about myself you helped me answer today. And that question was would I ever be able to kill again and if I did would I enjoy it." said Natsu as he grinned at the disfigured body of Jose at his feet that was barely breathing.

"The answer to the first part is a definite yes Jose but the second one is a little tricky. I'm guessing that most of the time I'll hate myself for taking the life of someone else, but for you I'm going to enjoy it and look back at this moment fondly." he said while coating his right fist in fire.

"Stop right there Natsu!" shouted Makarov as he entered the area that used to be a room before the fighting started.

"And why would I do that Makarov?" asked Natsu as he looked over his shoulder at the man he used to idolize and look up to.

"Because this isn't you Natsu, you're a kind person that just wants to brighten everyone else's day. You're also someone that can see the good in everyone no matter how small it may be and would never end the life of someone who's already been beaten. So please stop this right now; I know that everyone at the guild would like to catch back up with you again." stated Makarov with a hopeful smile.

"Very touching words Makarov." he replied with a grin only to bring down his fist on Jose and end his life right there in front of Makarov. Who couldn't believe what he just saw happen right in front of him and by someone that used to be one of the kindest persons he's ever known.

"But look where that got me, kicked out of my family only to then watch Happy sacrifice himself for me. So I think I'm going to just keep looking out for myself since I have never once gotten anything good for doing all of those things you said about me before Makarov." he said while walking towards Makarov who was still speechless.

"Oh and you're welcome Makarov, because if I hadn't learned about what that piece of shit did. Then you would be looking at the dead bodies of your whole guild rather than just him. Actually I'm wrong, there would also be the countless number of dead bodies of the citizens of Magnolia who would have been caught in the crossfire." he stated with a grin as he passed his old guild master and headed down.

 **Outside a few minutes later:**

"Natsu!" cheered all of Fairy Tail as he came out to them.

"Where's my coat?" he asked with a serious face.

"What type of question is that Flame Brain?" asked Grey with a grin.

"A valid one since I don't know where it is." he stated with a slight glare.

"What I think Grey meant Natsu is why aren't you celebrating like you usually would." explained Mira with her usual smile.

"First reason is I'm still not a member of the guild like some of you are probably wondering. And the second reason is I don't really think it's really appropriate to celebrate after everything that just happened." he said while still looking for his coat.

"How is it not Natsu, and where is the Master?" asked Erza as she came up to him.

"Makarov is still probably staring at Jose's body right now and that's the reason I don't feel like celebrating right now." replied Natsu with blank face.

"Juvia has your coat right here Natsu-sama." said Juvia with a bright smile as she held up his coat.

"Hey what the hell is a Phantom Lord mage still doing here?" asked Grey as he got into a fighting stance since he was the one to deal with Juvia earlier.

"Shut up Grey before I make you, Juvia's a good friend of mine. And thanks Juvia I would have been pissed if it got destroyed during all of the fighting." he stated while smiling at her.

"Juvia's just happy to help her Natsu-sama." she replied with a blush as a few of the members of Fairy Tail started to wonder what kind of relationship the two had together.

"Jose's actually dead?" asked Lucy, choosing to ignore Juvia and Natsu being more concerned about his coat.

"Yep, he's never going to harm another soul again." he replied with a grin while slipping his coat back on.

"You actually killed him?" asked Erza not wanting to believe what she just heard.

"Are you all fucking deaf, yes I killed that bastard and would do it again after what he did and was about to do." shouted Natsu as he glared at her. Erza was about to say something back to him but was shocked to see three regimens of Rune Knights heading their way.

"I was wondering when they were going to show up." said Natsu with a smirk.

"You knew they were coming Natsu-sama?" asked Juvia as she grabbed his arm and looked up at him.

"Let's just say that a few people have been keeping their eyes on me recently." he stated still smirking.

"About time you got here, Phantom Lord almost took out half of the town." said Grey as he glared at the Rune Knights.

"And the Council thanks you all for stopping them, but we're here on other business." stated the Commander of the middle regimen.

"And what business would that be?" asked Erza as she glared at the man along with everyone but Natsu who still had a smirk on his face.

"We're here to arrest Natsu Dragneel for numerous counts of destruction of property and attacks against other mages. And the worst and most recent charge is for the murder of Jose Porla a member of the Ten Wizard Saints." stated the Commander to the shock of everyone there. Only for most of them to instantly start yelling and shouting about how crazy all of it was considering that Natsu saved the town from Jose who was going to destroy it all just to get rid of them.

"ENOUGH!" shouted Natsu getting everyone to quiet down before a fight actually started between the Rune Knights and Fairy Tail.

"Natsu these charges are complete bullshit." stated Erza as she glared at him.

"No they actually aren't Erza; I wasn't in either of the guilds and had no reason to be here. Well except for me killing Jose which I just told all of you that I did. So let them do their jobs and take me away." he replied with a grin as got Juvia to let go of his arm and held out his wrists for the Commander to cuff them.

"Why are you doing this to Natsu-sama?" asked Juvia with a sad face and looked like she was almost in tears.

"You can't be serious!" shouted Grey as the Commander cuffed Natsu.

"What are you all so worked up about; I'm not a member anymore? Besides I didn't have any other plans and going to jail for a little bit sounds like it could be fun." he stated with a grin.

"We'll see if you think that after a week of being there and I don't think you'll be getting out anytime soon." stated the Commander as he glared at him.

"You do realize you're talking to someone who just took out a Wizard Saint by himself? And the only reason I'm coming with you at all is I'm curious to see why the Council was so quick to arrest me while doing nothing to stop a madman from destroying another guild and a town if I hadn't stepped in." he said while right in the Commander's face, just asking for him to do something.

"Alright men, we've got our main objective. Now detain everyone else so the Council can figure out what exactly happened here." ordered the Commander in a nervous tone as he stepped around Natsu so he wouldn't have to look at him.

"That's what I thought, well I'll see you guys later then. Oh and Juvia don't worry about me, I'll be out before you know it. Also Fairy Tail isn't such a bad place, I'm sure you'd make a few friends if you decided to see if they'd let you join." stated Natsu with a grin as the Rune Knights then started to lead him away. As the other Rune Knights started to secure the area and get everything ready for the investigation that was going to take place over the next few days.

 **End of Chapter**

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. So first off I want to say that I hope you don't think Natsu is too OP in this. I don't think so since he only was able to do all of this since he could use Dragon Force and had his flames of emotion which were incredibly strong for him since he was so angry at figuring out who caused Happy to die besides himself and Makarov. Well that's all I really wanted to say here so as always I'd love to read your reviews or pms and respond back to you as soon as possible.**

 **Until the next Chapter**

 **Digem Out!**


	6. Center of Attention

Ch 6: Center of Attention

 **Two weeks later:**

"Natsu Dragneel also known as Salamander, ex-mage of Fairy Tail that only two weeks ago took out Black Steel Gajeel and then killed Jose Porla a member of the Ten Wizard Saints." came a feminine voice from outside of his cell.

"Councilor Ultear, I see you decided to stop dressing up as a man which I wonder if anyone else on the Council knows about. I'd have to guess that Councilor Siegrain does since you two seem to spend a lot of time together if I go by how much scent you two have of each other's on you." stated Natsu who was laying on his bed looking up at the ceiling with a bored expression on his face wearing an all yellow coveralls with a serial number on it.

"Those senses of yours are quite remarkable." stated Ultear. Now wondering how much he's already figured out and if he was going to try and extort her since he definitely knew she wasn't on Galuna Island for Council business.

"That they are Ultear, and they're telling me that right now you're afraid that I might know more than I should. But don't worry my lips are sealed for now about all of that stuff, well for now at least." he replied now with a smirk while lying on his side so he could look at her better.

"You're quite smug for someone in jail." she said now glaring at him since he got under her skin already.

"Come on now, you and I both know that I'm only still here since I'm curious what the council's big decision's going to be. And if I don't like it I'm going to walk right on out of here destroying anything or one that tries to stop me." he said now with a creepy grin at unsettled Ultear just a bit.

"We've taken precautions to stop something like that from happening." she stated in a tone that was supposed to sound intimidating. But that was instantly lost on Natsu as he continued to grin at her.

"That you have, but those are meant to stop a normal mage. And if you haven't noticed already I'm anything but normal." he responded while getting into a sitting position.

"No you aren't, some of the Council thought you died down here since all you did was sleep for the first week. Only waking for enough time to eat or use the restroom." she said with a slight smirk of her own.

"What can I say Ultear, taking out Black Steel, A Jupiter Cannon, and finally a Wizard Saint can really take it out of you. So what's the real reason that you're down here Ultear, since the Council would never send one of their actual members down here? And you decided to have all of the guards mysteriously disappear so no one could possibly listen in on our conversation." he asked while getting up and heading towards the bars of the cell.

"Well aren't you the curious little mage Natsu. Is it so hard to believe that I just want to have a few private words with you? You did just do those things that you said all by yourself, which according to the old geezers is at the level of a Wizard Saint." she said in a sultry tone as she came closer to the bars.

"I'd say yes since you are quite the mage yourself, and I could be labeled as a dark mage after all of this." he replied while standing right next to the bars, which were the only things in between him and her right now.

"Some might say that could even be more of a turn on." she said while pressing her assets against the bars, giving the sole occupant of the cell a great view of them.

"Isn't the whole star-crossed lovers thing a little cliché?" he asked back while reaching through the bars and grabbing her by the waist so she couldn't back away. Not that she would want to since it seemed like her plan might be working better than she hoped and liked the way he somehow seemed in charge even from inside the cell.

"I wouldn't say so since each meeting would have to be done in secret, with the constant fear of being caught." she answered while gazing into his onyx eyes.

"So kind of what we're doing right now?" he asked while pulling her hips so that her waist was now also up against the bars.

"Yes and doesn't it get your blood pumping?" she said in a purr while still lost in his eyes.

"No, not really but this does." he stated and the next second Ultear was being lifted off her feet by her throat. Now gasping for air as his hot hand held onto her with iron strong grip that wasn't going to let go until he decided to.

"Knowing that I could snap your neck before you could so much as scream gets my blood pumping, none of that fake flirting bullshit you were trying to pull on me before can compare to this. So Ultear I am only going to ask you this once and I expect you to answer me truthfully or you'll be joining Jose in the afterlife. Because there is something that you can never remove from your scent, which is blood and you have more on you than any legit Council member should." growled Natsu while still holding her off of the ground. Waiting for her to give him some sign that she understood and agreed with his demands, which he got with a small nod that she could just barely make due to his hold on her.

"You try to so much as scream for help you're dead." he said while lessoning his grip on her throat yet still holding it.

"Even if I did no one would her." replied Ultear with a slight smile that threw him off. All the while amazed at how much magic power she could feel coming from him when there should be none because of the cell that he was in.

"I'm not messing around Ultear, now tell me the real reason you came to me." he growled while his hand got even hotter, which surprised Ultear since he shouldn't be able to use magic in this cell.

"Fine Natsu, but I really do like it when a man takes charge of a situation and then takes what he wants." she replied while giving him a sultry smile and then licking her lips. Only causing the dragon slayer to slightly tighten his grip and letting out a low growl that sent shivers up her spin just from hearing it.

"I just wanted to let you know that the Council has plans for you that will help them out more than what they will do for you. And that there are other options out there than them, which I am sure you're going to be finding out within the next few days along with the proposal that the Council has." she continued still smiling at him.

"I've already been used enough in my life and I don't plan on ever being used again." he growled at her.

"Well that's exactly what the Council and other's plan to do with you." she stated now grinning at him.

"Oh and I bet that you're going to tell me that you aren't just like them." he said while glaring at her once again tightening his grip.

"Far from it Natsu, I am just like them but I can see now that I was a fool to think I could use you like that. Which is why I now want to work with you so we can both get what we want in life." she was just barely able to get out because of his hold on her. That instantly loosened after he heard her whisper that with a look of absolute sincerity on her face.

"And what is it exactly that you want Ultear?" he asked in the softest tone that he's yet to speak to her with.

"To have a do over and get a better life." she answered below a whisper, that he could only hear thanks to his enhanced hearing. Causing him to think of all the things that he'd change if he could just go back a few years to before everyone that he truly cared about started to leave him and never return.

"And what do you think it is that I want in life?" he asked no longer holding her throat at all.

"That's something for you to find out, but I'm more than willing to help you as long as you're willing to do the same for me." she replied while still remain right next to the bars and still within his grasp. Because she could tell by the look in his eyes that he completely understood her right then since he too had lost people important to him.

"So what is your plan?" he asked while staring into her brown eyes.

"Initially I was going to ask you to join the guild that I'm secretly a part of if the Council decided to try and throw you away. But since we still don't know how they're going to rule on that we'll just have to wait and see." she replied with a sly grin as she reached in and slowly wrapped her arms around him.

"You said that was your initial plan, so what exactly is your plan now." he asked while copying her and noticing that her grin grew ever so slightly as he did that.

"I'm thinking that it might be better for both of us if you don't become associated with my guild and use the Council like they planned to use you. This is of course only a possible plan if you're not labeled as a dark mage, which I highly doubt you will be after your testimony and those of everyone else there." she said while taking note that he was giving off a warm aura that had a hint of mayhem and destruction, just waiting to be unleashed.

"I figured as much since Jose was willing to destroy Magnolia just to get rid of Fairy Tail. So what am I going to do about all of these other options that you said I might be getting?" he asked the woman that just moments ago he was about to snap the neck of. Now thinking about how quickly things can change in just a matter of seconds without you even noticing it.

"Well if it was me I would try and get the most out of all of them, before I throw them away like they were going to do to me." she replied once again giving him that sly grin of hers that he was now finding more appealing when it was genuine.

"A very cunning but dangerous strategy to use." he said now grinning at her.

"Like they always say the bigger the gain the greater the risk." she stated.

"And for me at least, all the more fun to be had no matter what happens. Okay Ultear I think a partnership between the two of us could be very beneficial in many different ways." he said while glancing at her amble bust, which didn't go unnoticed by her.

"I couldn't agree with you more Natsu." she said back in a sultry tone while pulling him up against the bars and using it as an opportunity to start exploring his upper body with her hands.

"Good to hear." he replied back as one of his hands slid down to her ass and taking a firm hold while the other one slowly worked its way up her side. Causing Ultear to stop what she was doing and see where he was going with it, and was surprised that he only grazed her breast while then using that hand to put some stray strands of hair behind her ear.

After that he cupped her check for a moment only to then start working down again. "But remember Ultear, if you even so much as think about betraying me I'll rip that pretty little head of yours right off before anyone could even try to help you." said Natsu in a deep voice, once again having his hand around her. But this time so gently that she could barely feel him if it wasn't for the heat radiating from his hand.

"I wouldn't dream of it Natsu." she said in husky tone, enjoying what he was doing to her at the moment. And the way he was able to send a tingle up her spine with just a few words that slightly scared her, since he was completely serious with his threats.

"If that's the case then this is going to be a really good partnership." he said now grinning at her while giving her ass a quick squeeze, causing her to let out a little moan.

"Then as a show of good faith let me fill you in on Siegrain and his current plans that are doomed to fail." she said with a mischievous grin as she did just that. All the while they continued to hold each other through the bars, almost as if they weren't there any longer.

 **At Fairy Tail:**

"Have you heard anything about Natsu yet?" asked Mira as Makarov sat down on the top of a pile of lumber that was going to be used in the reconstruction of the guild hall.

"They're still discussing what his punishment should be." he replied with a frown. Now wondering how he let someone like Natsu become someone capable of killing with zero remorse like he did with Jose

"What's there to discuss, he saved all of us and the rest of the town." stated Erza with an upset look on her face as she came over to them.

"Yes he did, but since he's Natsu there was a lot of collateral damage. And the biggest issue is him killing Jose, who even though he was trying to do terrible things didn't deserve death." he explained with a frown.

"Are you so sure about that Gramps?" asked Laxus with a huge grin on his face as he walked through the construction site to get to them.

"Absolutely Laxus, killing is never the answer." he stated while glaring at his grandson.

"And how would you even know Laxus, since you weren't here to help us because you think you're better than the rest of us?" asked Erza as she glared at him.

"I don't just think I'm better than you weaklings Erza, I know that I am. Because I know for a matter of fact that I wouldn't have to rely on an ex-guild member to save my ass from Phantom Lord. And I know what happened since people love to talk and this rumor about Natsu is spreading faster than all of his other ones combined." answered Laxus with a smirk since he could see Erza visibly shaking with rage.

"Laxus we all know that rumors are never telling the whole truth." said Mira as she was slightly glaring at him.

"Oh I know Mira, but there's always some truth to them which is why I had to come back and do a little digging for myself. And what I found out was that if Natsu hadn't found out about Jose helping in the death of his cat all of you weaklings would be dead right now. Also it seems that those were his last words to you gramps before the Council came arrested him for those trumped up charges." he replied while smiling at his Grandfather.

"How do you even know about that?" asked Makarov with wide eyes since it was only him and Natsu there.

"Natsu told them absolutely everything that happened, down to every last gory detail. Oh and you're really lucky Gramps that he still cares about the bookworm and her, otherwise who knows where he would have been when all of this started. And if that happened, Mystogan might not have found him and informed him about Jose before it was too late." he stated while gesturing to Mira.

"Mystogan was here, then why didn't he help?" asked Erza with a surprised look.

"Yes he was here, but he was probably too tired to do anything after taking out all of Phantom Lord's other branches. Didn't you find it odd that a huge guild like theirs only attacked with that small amount of mages?" he asked back.

"Yes I did, but why do you even care about any of this Laxus since you didn't seem to care one bit when we needed your help?" she questioned while now eyeing him cautiously.

"I didn't care then since you should have been able to clean up your own messes. And I care now, since along with the rumors about Natsu killing Jose there are other ones going around about how weak Fairy Tail is that we needed him to save us. That is something that I will not stand for Gramps they should fear us, they shouldn't be laughing behind our backs like they are now." he answered while glaring at Makarov.

"Laxus you shouldn't let things like that get to you. But what is the real reason that you're so interested in Natsu now?" asked Makarov with an eyebrow raised.

"Isn't it obvious, he's probably the only one here that could actually give me a good fight. But you decided to kick him out of the guild when all he did was prove that he was better than the rest of weaklings in this guild. So I plan on trying to get him back since Fairy Tail needs more mages like him around once I become Master. And after what has happened to him recently I think he might even help me get rid of the other weaklings." said Laxus with a huge smile as the looks of disbelief came over the faces of the other three.

"Natsu would never help you with something like that." said Mira just loud enough for the others to barely hear her.

"Mira's right, he would beat the shit out of you just for saying something like that." said Erza as she glared at him while Makarov remained quiet.

"Are you two freaking kidding me?" he asked while starting to chuckle at the two of them.

"Absolutely not and I don't see how any of this is funny." she said back, wanting to attack him but knew it would only end in a loss for her.

"I bet you all thought that he would never destroy our guild hall, which I'm still a little pissed at him about but hey he was making a point. You also probably didn't think that he would fight against you either which he also proved you idiots wrong about. And finally he killed and probably will keep doing it to anyone dumb enough to piss him off like Jose did or leaves him with no other option. So it's not that hard to believe that he would help me make Fairy Tail into what it always should have been, a guild where only the strong can survive." he said while wiping away a fake tear from his eye as he finally stopped chuckling.

"But he still came back and helped us." stated Erza with a look of denial on her face.

"No that only happened because of his mission to kill Jose and show Black Steel who the real dragon was of the two of them. And I did tell you all that Gramps decision to kick him out was going to end badly for all of you and it would seem that I was correct and it's only going to get worse." said Laxus with a grin as he turned to leave.

"Laxus that's the second time you've said something like that, what do you know?" asked Erza with determined look that he just smiled at before disappearing in a bolt of lightning like he always does.

"He only seems to show up and make us feel worse about what happened to Natsu." said Mira with a frown.

"He's just a jerk Mira, but I think he's planning something." she replied now having a concerned expression.

"That he is and it probably has something to do with becoming the Master of Fairy Tail." spoke Makarov with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"You wouldn't hand over the position to him would you Master?" asked Erza.

"He's one of the last people that I would ever give the position to, he's too consumed with being the strongest to realize what this guild is about. It's a place for our members to find a new family that will be with them through thick and thin." he replied.

"Unless you happen to be Natsu." said Mira with a sad look as she too decided to leave the two of them with shocked and hurt expressions.

"She doesn't mean that Master, she's still just angry about him being arrested and not coming back to us yet." said Erza trying her best to believe her own words.

"No she's right Erza, I failed Natsu and did nothing to stop any of this from happening. And he's never coming back Erza, you and everyone else need to understand that." he said with a defeated look on his face.

"How can you say that Master?" she asked loudly while glaring at him.

"You didn't see the way he looked at me Erza, so long as I'm associated with Fairy Tail Natsu will have nothing to do with it." he answered as his face looked even worse than before.

"He just needs time Master, and I'm sure that the two of you could sit down and talk through all of this." she suggested, hoping to cheer him up slightly.

"No you don't get it Erza, he looked at me and I could tell he wanted nothing more than to kill me where I stood. The only reason that I think he didn't try was that he knew it would hurt a few of you that he still cares about, otherwise he would have tried." said Makarov with a frown as he got up and started to walk away from the stunned knight.

Erza didn't want to believe that the boy she grew up with would actually want to kill the person that took them in and gave them a home when they didn't have one. But then she realized that the same person took all of that away from him and even more since Happy died later on because of it. So with her head hung low she decided to go and walk around Magnolia to try and clear her head of these unpleasant thoughts.

 **Late that night with Natsu:**

"I'm surprised that you're still in that cell Salamander." stated Siegrain as he came up to the cell with a smug grin.

"I honestly have nowhere else to be and you're giving me free food so why leave?" he asked with a grin as he sat up on his bed.

"You're quite the peculiar mage aren't you?" asked Siegrain still grinning.

"No not really, I just recently opened my eyes for the first time and now see how things are actually done in the real world. So I'd say I'm now just like everyone else out there and only concerned about myself." he replied while eyeing the Wizard Saint and Council member.

"And what caused this?" asked Siegrain as he leaned up against a bar with one shoulder.

"You already know Siegrain and have been keeping an eye on me just a few days after it happened." stated Natsu as he glared at the other man.

"I do and I am sorry that you had to go through that." he replied only for Natsu to scoff at him.

"Sure you are, so what brings you down here Siegrain? Because it has to be something really important for a Wizard Saint that is also a part of the Council to make such a long trip down here." said Natsu with a smile that seemed off to Siegrain.

"Seems that your sense of humor is still intact." he stated with a little chuckle.

"That'll stick with me till the very end, so what can I do for you?" asked Natsu while getting up off of the bed and coming closer to Jellal.

"It's more of what can I do for you Natsu." he replied with a grin spreading across his lips.

"I'm interested Siegrain, but I know that no one just does anything for free or out of the goodness of their heart. There is always some sort of catch, so what's the catch for you doing something for me?" asked the dragon slayer with a slightly sinister grin.

"These last few weeks seemed to have made you smarter than what I've been told about you. And yes there is something I expect to receive in return for helping you out of your current predicament." said Siegrain while closing his eyes, enjoying the situation that they were in right now.

"I don't really need any help since I am only sticking around since I want to find out what you guys decided to do with me. But I am curious as to what you think you can even do in this situation." he replied still grinning at him.

"You honestly can't expect to escape from that cell by yourself." said Siegrain with a surprised tone while opening up his eyes to look at him.

"I do, but that's only going to happen if I don't like what you and the rest of the Council decide to do with me." he said with a confident tone that made Siegrain actually believe he could possibly do it for a brief moment.

"Well that's actually what I'm here to talk to you about. As I am sure you can guess the rest of the Council is having a hard time figuring out what to do with you Natsu. One group wants to keep you locked up so you won't cause us anymore problems. While a different group wants to reward you for taking care of Jose and preventing a major catastrophe by awarding you the title that Jose used to have. And the final group is neutral right now and could be swayed to either side any time now." he explained to him with an smug look.

"And let me guess you're part of the neutral group and can convince them which side they should vote for?" asked Natsu as he walked to the other side of the cell with his back now to Siegrain.

"You would be correct on that, but wrong about what I have planned." he replied with a hint of excitement in his voice.

"I would have thought that you would just threaten voting against me to get what you want." stated Natsu still with his back to him.

"That's what I would have done if I just wanted to use your services just once and then eliminate you. But I would like us to be on as friendly terms as possible so we can help each other out, so I've come up with a better plan. Rather than voting for either side I'm going to get both of those sides to agree with my new suggestion." he said now actually smiling at Natsu who still hadn't turned around yet.

"So what is this new idea that the Council will agree on?" asked Natsu in a skeptical tone.

"We're going to offer you a trial period if you will for becoming a Wizard Saint, where if you continue to cause the Council problems like they fear then you will not be given the title. And then they can be free to arrest you for charges that will actually hold up compared to these flimsy ones they have on you now." he explained.

"I wouldn't really call killing Jose a flimsy charge." said Natsu as he turned to look at the Council member proposing this idea to him.

"Yes you did in fact kill him in cold blood when he could have easily been arrested, but after investigating into the incident the Council would have just had him executed for what he tried to do. And those same acts that he tried to commit were stopped by you, which somewhat justifies you killing him like you did. Also the constant letters from Fairy Tail and a few visits by some of their members have made it clear to most of the Council that we can't throw you in jail for this." he elaborated with a grin.

"Like I would just let myself be thrown into one of your jails, and of course they couldn't just mind their own business. Who actually showed up and tried to talk with you and those old geezers?" Natsu asked with a slight smirk.

"Well the first ones were a little blue haired girl and that white haired one that is always posing for Sorcerer's Weekly. After them came that mage that is always stripping along with a blonde that I noticed is a Celestial Mage, which is quite rare now days. Oh and Erza Scarlet came with those two as well, but that was during your first week here when all you did was sleep and eat. They all really wanted to see you and make sure that you were okay." said Jellal with the same grin as before while watching Natsu's reaction to who actually came to talk with the Council.

But he had a special interest in Natsu's reaction to hearing that Erza came to try and help him out, because if he was going to be any use to him Natsu needed to not care about her anymore. And after what Jellal witnessed after the Lullaby incident he definitely believed that there was something between the two of them that would cause Natsu to be of no use to him. So he was shocked that he got absolutely no reaction form the dragon slayer when even said her name unlike what he did with the others.

"Didn't think the Stripper would actually do that." stated Natsu while shaking his head.

"Well he did Natsu, and they all only had good things to say about you hoping to get the Council to see how useful you actually are." he said, still surprised by his lack of reaction. But as he thought about it they did in fact belong to the guild that kicked him out causing him to even be in a situation like this.

"So back to this trail period thing and more importantly what you want me to do in order for you to do this?" asked Natsu as he looked at Siegrain with a serious look.

"During this trial period the Council would send you out on jobs that they would normal have a Wizard Saint do. And judging by how you accomplish them they will decided if you are Wizard Saint material. As for what you have to do for me that would be noting expect for listen to a possible job I'll have for you in the future." said Siegrain with a serious face of his own.

"So you're saying that you are going to do this even if I don't plan to work for you?" he asked with a skeptical look.

"Of course Natsu, because like I said earlier I want to be on friendly terms with you. I'm also confident that you'll be willing to do the job that I have and you being thrown in jail isn't going to help anyone so why even let something like that happen." replied Siegrain now smiling at him.

"I can definitely see now how you were able to rise to your position as such a young age." said Natsu with a slight grin.

"Why make an enemy when you could possibly have an ally instead." he said.

"Smart move, but what if they don't want any part of that?" asked Natsu as he sat back down on his bed still grinning.

"Then I crush them before they can be a problem later on of course." he answered with a grin.

"That's my outlook on life now as well, so I see no reason why I shouldn't try and see how this works out." said Natsu as he ran his hand through his hair.

"Glad to see that you've grown up Natsu and are no longer that naive kid that came bursting into our meeting a few months ago." he replied while starting to leave Natsu's cell.

"Me too Siegrain, but here's a warning that decided to start giving to everyone that I work with. If you try to betray me I will put you in the ground and in your case you'll be the second Wizard Saint that I would eliminate without a second thought." warned Natsu as he laid back down in his bed.

"It seems that we're similar in more ways than I initially thought Natsu, and I am giving you the same warning." he replied as he kept walking away, knowing that Natsu could still hear him as he chuckled to himself.

 **With Ultear in her office:**

"So you're positive that he won't join our guild?" asked Hades through the communication lacrima.

"Positive Master Hades, it would seem that his departure from Fairy Tail and encounter with Phantom Lord has made him weary of joining a new one anytime soon." replied Ultear from the chair in her room.

"That's surprisingly smart of him." stated Hades with a smirk.

"If I'd have to guess he might have a trust issue now." she stated with a slight smirk as she rubbed her throat that was slightly bruised.

"I don't need him to trust us I just need him to do what he's told." he said while eyeing Ultear suspiciously.

"From what I could gather he'll be up for almost anything that isn't senseless kill as long as he's paid enough." she replied while taking her and from her throat.

"That's good to hear, but are you sure that we can trust him to not turn on us and call the Council on us?" he asked with a serious expression while stroking his white beard.

"I think so Master, but you know how hard it is to figure out something like that just from a conversation." she answered with a slight frown.

"Yes I do, so what made you believe that he won't betray us if we hire him for some side jobs?" he asked while now watching her intently.

"Because he knows that I'm a dark mage and has done noting with that information at all." she responded.

"And how did he figure that out Ultear?" asked Hades in an angry tone while glaring at her.

"He said that he could smell the blood on me and that it was too much for a normal mage." she replied quickly.

"Dragon Slayers are quite impressive if he was able to figure out all of that just from your scent. So what does the Council plan to do with Salamander?" he asked in his normal voice since it wasn't her fault that he found out about her true identity.

"What's most likely going to happen is he's going to be let go and start doing jobs for the Council that are at Wizard Saint level as some sort of trail period or something. And if things do go wrong it'll all be on him for messing up the job and the Council can deny it without any fears of it coming back to them." she explained.

"I can't believe that they would be smart enough to do something like that." he stated with a slightly surprised look.

"It was all Jellal's idea, which is why it's going to be the first thing decided next morning." she said with a slight smirk.

"He's a clever man I'll give him that, but unfortunately he's no longer of any use to us since Zeref is still alive." he replied with a slight grin.

"Yes he is but I fear that he's probably trying to recruit Salamander as we speak." she informed him with a concerned look.

"If you weren't able to convince him to join us then I'm confident that he won't join up with Jellal. Even if he does that will only cause the Council to be even more distracted allowing us to keep doing what we have been without them bothering us." he said noticing the look of concern that Ultear had on her face for less than a second.

"Indeed Master Hades, so what do you want me to do with him?" she asked with her stoic face now back on.

"I think it would be wise to see how he handles this whole Wizard Saint trial period thing. And if he's still interested then, then I will definitely have some more work for him." he answered with a slight grin.

"One more question before I go, what do you want me to do about Jellal? He's really close to completing the tower which means that he's going to soon ruin his cover and mine along with it." she asked with a frown since working for the Council was a comfy yet also very lucrative job for her.

"We unfortunately knew that this was eventually going to happen, so do as he says then return back to the ship after making it look like you died." answered Hades before ending the call.

"He seemed to have bought that, but then again he's never really trusted me ever since I became the Head of the Seven Kin of Purgatory. Now I guess it's all in your hands Natsu, I just hope you're able to not get sucked in by anyone else." Ultear thought to herself while smiling just at the thought of the dragon slayer that agreed to become her partner in all of this. That if she was lucky would become more than just a partnership in work and would become one of enjoyment as well.

 **Council meeting chamber the next day:**

The last few hours mainly consisted of Natsu rehearing their plans for him thanks to the unexpected visitors he had yesterday. And they also went on and on how this was a big favor to him that they wouldn't have given just to anyone in his circumstances, always just trying to make him feel indebted to them for doing this.

"So I'm pretty much going to be Wizard Saint without all the perks?" asked Natsu with a grin.

"You should just be happy that we're allowing you to leave here as a free man!" shouted out one of the Council members.

"I am, but I just want to make sure I completely understand what you're all proposing to me here. And by the sounds of it I'll be doing what a Wizard Saint does but without any back up from you guys if anything goes wrong, which by the way is not a bad idea at all. " he replied with a smirk.

"Yes Salamander, I'm no longer going to try and hide what we're proposing here behind misleading words. You are correct with your current assumption, but as we explained earlier this will only be the case until you prove you're worthy of the title." stated Gran Doma with a serious look as most of the Council was shocked that he admitted to everything.

"Thanks Gran Doma, I honestly expected Siegrain to be the one to finally tell me the truth here. And since you were completely honest with me I'm going to be with you, I am interested in this proposal of yours but I have a few concerns that I need answers to first." he said while most of the Council glared at him.

"Ask away Salamander and I'll give you a straight answer right way since I grow tired of the constant bullshit that we were saying to you before." replied Gran Doma.

"That makes two of us, so my first concern is what do you expect me to do when you don't have a job for me?" he asked while slowly looking at each of the Council Members.

"Simple Salamander, you go back to what you were going to do before the whole Phantom Lord incident." answered Org as he glared at the dragon slayer, one of the last holdout for imprisoning him.

"You do all know that I was becoming a mage for hire, willing to almost anything if the pay was high enough?" asked Natsu with a serious look on his face.

"Oh we know, which is why I still think we should throw you in jail before you start killing again." replied Org angrily.

"Every person I've killed deserved exactly what they got, actually I'm wrong since dying was an easy way out for them when they actually deserved a long and very painful life. And don't worry Org I never planned on accepting assassinations since I have no intentions on becoming a dark mage. But that doesn't mean I'm not willing to do other things that you'll all look down on." he explained with a grin.

"Are you saying that you would commit crimes?" asked Michello with an unreadable expression.

"Before all of this I was definitely open to the idea if it paid enough. I mean I did destroy Fairy Tail's guild hall which is vandalism at the very least, which is why I want to know if you're actually fine with me going back to doing things like that?" he asked as the Council then decided to have a little group discussion about all of this. That of course Natsu could listen to, which was mainly about how this could ruin his reputation before they could even tell if he was a good candidate for Wizard Saint.

"I actually have a few other questions that might help you decided on the first one." he said causing most of them to be surprised that he could still hear them.

"Go on Salamander." said Gran Doma in a commanding that let the others know he didn't want any interruptions while Natsu was talking.

"So if you guys did allow me to become a mage for hire I would probably eventually get a bounty on my head and since you guys are in charge of that you could have it just say wanted for questioning about my activities. Well that's at least what I would put on them if you wanted me to keep working for you while I also still do my own thing on the side." he replied with a sly grin.

"Do you honestly expect us to just let you go about committing crimes as you see fit?" asked Org, while barely being able to contain his anger.

"Let him explain Org, I would like to see where you're going with this Salamander. Because like my fellow Council member so rudely said, why would we allow you to get away with such things?" asked Siegrain with a sly grin of his own.

"I'm glad that you're a reasonable enough man Siegrain to let me finish my thoughts. Now if you do this I can guarantee that a few dark guilds will start reaching out to me for my services and I know you're all smart enough to see where I'm going with this." stated Natsu with that same sly grin.

"And why in the world would they do that Salamander?" asked Ultear with a slightly angry expression since she and Jellal had no idea what he was up to now. But as she looked over at Jellal she could tell that he was just sitting back and enjoying the show if you will.

"For the same reason that Jose and the Council are even interested in me right now. I have a great amount of magic power that everyone wants on their side of the board, which is why I'm certain that they will eventually contact me with at least a few small jobs to do. Because I bet most of the country is talking about me killing Jose right now making it look like I am no longer playing on the good guy's side anymore." he explained.

"So you're proposing being a double agent for us?" asked Siegrain with an eyebrow raised.

"I guess that is a good way of describing it, but I was only just pointing out things that I could see happening in the near future. And I just wanted to see what you would want me to do in those situations because I would really like to earn the title of Wizard Saint. If doing these things that I just brought to your attention would speed up that process I'm all for it." he answered with a neutral facial expression on.

"Wouldn't the dark guilds get suspicious of you if any dark guild that you help gets arrested right after you help them?" asked Ultear.

"Yeah if you guys are idiots about the intel that I give you, but that is up to you to decide since I could care less if dark guilds don't try to hire me. And form my last encounter with Jose I wouldn't be surprised if they each try to betray me afterwards, which would mean that I would handle them by myself and leave them nicely waiting for you to arrest. I don't deal well with betrayals as you all could probably tell." he replied with an angry tone at the end.

"These are very interesting changes to our original proposal Salamander." stated Gran Doma.

"Thanks, but they are just that Gran Doma. If you don't want me doing any of that stuff I'll be more than happy to do what you initially proposed to me and be a model Wizard Saint like some of you wanted. Because I would really prefer to not go back to unemployed anytime soon." he said with a faint yet sad smile.

"You are always full of surprises Salamander, each time we met you do something that no one ever could have predicted." said Siegrain with a smirk.

"I think that it's too risky." said Yajima with a frown as he looked at Natsu who kind of reminded him of Makarov when he was younger.

"Not really since in the absolute worst case scenario all you guys have to do is deny all of this. And if that happens who do you think the public is going to believe, the Council or some random mage that got expelled from his last guild?" asked Natsu with a slight smirk that only Ultear caught.

This made her realize why Natsu wanted her to record this whole meeting without anyone else knowing since it would be his insurance policy for when the Council eventually tries to betray him like everyone else so far. Well that is until they decided to form their secret partnership, which she didn't want to end since he just proved that he was a huge asset by listening to her advice about using them to his advantage.

"I wasn't thinking about that Natsu, I was saying that it is too risky for you. What if they find out that you are working for us?" asked Yajima with a concerned look on his face.

"They'd probably try to kill me, which is something that they've already tried before as you all know. And it didn't work out too well for them and it won't if they try it again." he answered in a confident tone.

"This is going to take a little more discussion to figure out what we want to do now Salamander." said Gran Doma as he looked at his fellow Council members, knowing that it was going to be a heated debate.

"I expected as much and since I've said my part you can send me back to my cell." he replied with a slight bow to the Council.

"I don't think there is any need for that anymore, guards please escort Salamander to his possessions and then to the waiting room. Hopefully this'll only take a few more hours Salamander and we'll then be able to tell you our decision." ordered Gran Doma as two Rune Knights came up to Natsu.

"Thank you all for your time and offering me this opportunity to help Fiore once again." replied Natsu with another bow before being escorted out of the chambers with a faint smirk on his face that went unnoticed by all of them.

 **Several hours later:**

"You have no idea how good it is to wear your own cloths after being in those rags for before for over two weeks." said Natsu with a grin as he walked back into the chamber now in his usual outfit.

"Those were not rags Salamander, they are the standard issue attire for all inmates." stated Org as he glared at the dragon slayer.

"Well just threatening me with those are enough to keep me out of trouble." he replied with an even bigger grin than before.

"I hope that's not the case since we've decided to go with your additions to our original plan Salamander." said Gran Doma with a slight smile.

"Can I ask what made you guys decided to do this?" he asked with an eyebrow raised.

"The advantages of a situation like this greatly outweigh the dangers that come with it, and since you are going to be the one facing most of it we don't have to be that concerned. And what I mean by that is you've already shown to us that you can handle yourself when facing almost insurmountable odds like you did against Phantom Lord." answered Gran Doma.

"Thanks, and is there any rules that you want me to follow if I do get approached by a dark guild?" he asked with a stone serious face.

"Just one and that's you can't ever kill an innocent person while with them, if you do then this agreement will cease to exist. Other than that you're free to do as you see fit, but it would be helpful if you do commit crimes try not to be seen because having a bounty just for questioning can only cover so much." stated Gran Doma as he looked at him with cold and calculating eyes.

"I know, which is why I plan to occasionally turn myself in every now and then. After which all charges will be drop, clearing my name since it's not too hard to believe that I could possibly bribe a few of your employees to make it go away since it's only for questioning. That will also give me a perfect time to give you any new intel that I might have gathered since the last time I checked in." he explained with a grin now on his face.

"Not a bad plan Salamander, oh and we decided that you will check in with Yajima since if you two happen to be seen together it will be the least suspicious. Considering that Yajima is known to support your old guild and it wouldn't be that odd to believe that you two might know each other." said Siegrain with a smirk.

"Sounds good to me, and I have one last question." he stated while raising his hand in the air with his pointer finger raised as well.

"And what would that be Salamander?" asked Ultear with a small smile.

"How long do you think it'll take before I become a Wizard Saint?" he asked with a hopeful look.

"Not too long Salamander, but if you're able to infiltrate dark guilds then it'll be the first thing we do after you can no longer do that for us." said Gran Doma with a confident grin.

"That makes sense, well unless there's anything else I think I should probably get out of here." he said with his usual grin as he turned and headed towards the exit.

"Wait Natsu, I need to tell you where to find me." stated Yajima.

"No need, I can pretty much find anyone after I've been in the same room as them for more than an hour. And man is that really helpful if someone is dumb enough to try and betray me since there is nowhere they can go where I won't be able to find them." he replied while looking over his shoulder at them with a creepy grin on his face, only to exit through the doors before they could say anything else to him.

"Did he just threaten us?" asked Michello with his face contorted in pure anger.

"He most certainly did, which I will not stand for." replied Org only for Siegrain to silence him with his laughing.

"What in the world are you laughing at Siegrain?" asked Yajima since the previous two were glaring at him while being too angry to talk.

"I'm laughing at those two for getting so worked up at a little comment that wasn't a threat. It was more of a warning for us to not betray him like everyone else has done to him recently, and I don't know about the rest of you. But I think I'm going to listen since the Jose was the last one to do that to him and look how it turned out for him." explained Siegrain with a smug grin.

"Either way Salamander sure knows how to make an impressive exit." stated Ultear with a smile as she got up from her seat.

"That he does, and I think Siegrain is right about taking his last words as a warning that we should heed. Because for some reason I have a feeling we want him to be on our side in the upcoming months." stated Gran Doma as he stroked his beard.

"You can't be serious?" asked Michello as he stood up abruptly while knocking over his chair.

"That I am Michello, he's going to play a big part in how this country is shaped." he stated with completely serious look on his face.

"I couldn't agree with you more on that, he pretty much took down a whole guild by himself just a few weeks ago. A mage like that is one you want to have on our side rather than against you." said Siegrain still with his smug grin.

"If there is nothing else expect for discussing Salamander's importance, I think I'm going to leave." said Ultear now standing at the exit.

"Everyone is free to go since this meeting is over with." stated Gran Doma as he got up and headed to the exit along with the rest of the Council as they continued to discuss Natsu and their most recent decision.

 **Ultear's office:**

"That was quite impressive Natsu." said Ultear to herself with a sly grin as she closed the door.

"Thanks, you're the one that actually gave me the idea by coming and visiting me that first day." said a voice from her chair that caused her to let out a little scream of surprise.

"What the hell are you doing here Natsu!" she hissed at the smiling dragon slayer in her chair.

"That's how I'm treated when I got the Council to pretty much give me a pass to do whatever the hell I want?" he asked with a mischievous grin.

"You didn't do any of that Natsu, it was all thanks to me and Jellal arguing with them that they even agreed to it." she declared now glaring at him.

"And I knew that you two would, which is exactly what you said I should start doing more often. Make others work for me rather than the other way around." he replied while putting his feet up on her table and still grinning at her.

"I'm quite impressed that you were actually able to do that so soon." she stated with a shocked look since she did tell him to start doing that. She just didn't think that her and Jellal would be the first ones along with the rest of the Council to be the first ones that he used.

"What can I say, I'm a quick learner when I can see the advantages of whatever I'm trying to do. So did you get all of it, because I would like to have some extra insurance other than those last parting words I had for those old geezers?" he asked with a now serious face.

"Of course I did, and most of them were already slightly afraid of you. After that little threat they are definitely going to think twice about betraying you like they initially planned." she answered while giving him a lacrima recording of the meeting that just happened.

"Glad to hear, and maybe I'll be able to add being an asset as well. Since they are consistent in trying to use someone as much as possible." he stated as he slipped the recording into one of his pockets.

"You know that what you just did is going to make my job even harder." she informed him while also slightly glaring at him.

"And here I thought you were able to take care of yourself." he replied with a sly grin.

"I can Natsu, but how am I going to explain this to my Master?" she asked in an upset tone as she knocked his feet off of the desk.

"Simple you got me to agree to completely leave your guild alone and keep any details I learn about it away from the Council." he said while getting up from the chair and now standing in front of her.

"You have quite the devious mind Salamander, which is a surprise considering you used to be one of those Fairies." said Ultear as she fiddled with his coat that was always left open. Only for her to be surprised by the growl that came out of him as his hand once again was around her throat, ready to crush it at a moment's notice.

"I'm going to let that one slide since you didn't know that I hate being called that Ultear, but next time I won't be so forgiving. And let's just say that while I was there I kept in check some of my tendencies that were frowned upon in a place like that." he said now cupping her chin so she was looking into his onyx eyes. As his other hand slipped around her waist and brought her so they were now up against each other.

"This is a lot better with no bars in between the two of us." she replied with a sly grin as she continued to stare into his eyes. Slightly getting lost in them while hoping that

"That it is since there's nothing stopping me from doing anything I want to you." he stated while backing her up against a book shelf of hers. As his one hand played with her hair as his other gave her ass an firm squeeze, eliciting a little moan from her.

"The same can be said for me as well." she replied before wrapping her arms around his neck and bringing him into a kiss. That initially started out as a light one but quickly heated up as both of them got more into it as they both realized that they enjoyed this feeling. Both of them started to explore the other's body as they continued to make out with each other while Natsu still kept her pinned against the bookshelf.

Ultear always liked to be the dominant one in every aspect of her life decided to fix this by spinning them around and then throwing him up against them as the parted for air. Only to dive straight back in before he could say anything about her most recent decision, but it wasn't fast enough to stop him from letting out a deep growl before their lips locked again. This lasted until a minute later Natsu lifted her up by grabbing her ass as her legs wrapped around his waist while letting out another moan with her head back as he started to kiss her neck.

"No one is dominant over a dragon Ultear." he growled out to her while still kissing her neck.

"Yes, now take me to the desk Natsu!" she moaned out in a husky tone. Before he could set her on the desk he swiped away all of the things, not caring about the loud noises he just made. Natsu then dropped her on it while looking at her with a lust filled gaze that she gave him right back, until she realized where they were right now.

"Shit, I forgot to put up the runes." she cursed since someone was bound to have heard the commotion that the two of them made just seconds ago.

"Someone's coming." he said while looking at her with eyes still filled with lust. Probably contemplating if it was worth getting caught right there so long as they both satisfied their current urges they were having for the other.

"You need to leave before someone sees you." she said with a sad smile as she started to quickly fix her attire.

"You're probably right, would hate to ruin our partnership before it's even started." he replied with a sad smile of his own while going to her window and opening it.

"Natsu I-i-I don't…" mumbled Ultear at a loss for words.

"It's okay Ultear, I think I feel the same and we can finish this at a later time." said Natsu with a sly grin before jumping out of her window and over to the balcony level up, only to jump out of sight right after.

"Is everything alright in there Councilwoman Ultear?" came a voice after someone knocked at her.

"Yes it is, I only just to upset about the paperwork is all. Thank you for checking in on me." replied Ultear with a sigh of relief that it was only one of administrative workers that came to check in on her.

"Okay Councilwoman Ultear, maybe you should go and take a walk to cool off." suggested the employee through the door.

"That sounds like a good idea and I'll get right on that after I clean up my office." she replied as she set to work on picking up all of the things that Natsu knocked off of her desk.

"Glad to hear, you work yourself too hard sometimes Councilwoman Ultear." said the employee before walking away. As Ultear started to wonder it that was true, but decided that it didn't matter since a certain someone seemed like he was going to change that about her even if she didn't want him to.

 **With Natsu:**

"She just had to kiss me like that." he mumbled to himself. Now for the first time in a very long time cursing his dragon instincts and what they bring along with them. Like finding out that one of the people you planned on using is in fact one of your mates that you can't help but protect with everything you've got if they're ever in danger.

And in Ultear's case she was pretty much in constant danger for numerous reasons, which comes along of course with being such a manipulative person like her. But just like with his other mates he doesn't really have a choice with who his dragon half sees as mate material, even though he couldn't help but smile at his newest one. She had a lot in common with him and was clearly willing to do anything to reach her goals which in his mind is something that should be admired. Not to mention that she was one of the most beautiful women he's ever had the pleasure of meeting.

But the thing that he liked about Ultear the most was that he now knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she liked him for exactly who he was. Not someone that he was trying to be which is what he was afraid that his other mates might have fallen for, if they even liked him in that way at all. Ultear on the other hand has already seen him at what some would say was his worst, yet she still somehow was okay with all of it even after he threatened her own life.

"Well I guess she's the only one I'm one hundred percent certain on except for her of course." Natsu thought as he walked through the streets with a frown now no his face.

"I should probably go and see Juvia since I told her it would only be a little while until I was out again. And while I track her down I can figure out what rumors are being spread about me and maybe find some easy work that won't slow me down." he thought as a grin slowly reappeared on his face as he got ready for the adventure that awaited him.

 **End of Chapter**

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Thanks for reading and I know that this one doesn't have that many exciting moments in it, but it did setup a lot of things that I needed to progress the story later on. And there you have it his second confirmed mate other than the one that I am guessing you all can probably already guess without me giving you any more clues. Well I guess that's all I have to say so shoot me a review or pm and I'll try to reply as fast as possible.**

 **Until the next Chapter**

 **Digem Out!**


	7. A Strange Woman

Ch 7: A Strange Woman

 **A week and a half later:**

"All I wanted was to have a quick drink and listen to the gossip going around the town, but you idiots had to start something with me." said Natsu with his boot firmly holding a man's head against the ground as the bar they were currently in was completely covered in red flames. The building threatening to collapse any second now, that didn't seem to bother Natsu since it was only him and the guy begging for mercy underneath him.

"Please Salamander have mercy!" begged the guy with tears running down his face along with blood that was oozing from the wounds that were dealt to him during the fight that happened minutes earlier.

"I am starting to think that moniker of mine will forever be attached to that guild, which means I need a new one since you know how I feel about being associated with them." he replied while applying more pressure to the man's head.

"Mercy!" screamed out the man in pain since it felt like his skull was going to crack. But he was shocked when the pressure was completely gone, only to the start wishing that it was back as Natsu picked him up by the collar and got them face to face.

"You're asking for mercy from your enemy and you're actually expecting to get it?" he asked while glaring at the man.

"Y-y-y-y-yes." stuttered out the poor man as he looked into Natsu's onyx eyes that looked like he wanted to end him right there.

"Let me give you a little advice before I leave, all mercy is good for is to eventually let someone stab you in the back that you could have prevented with not showing them that in the first place. " he said as a sinister grin slowly started to form on his face.

"No please don't!" yelled out the man knowing it was pointless since he had seen that grin before and what always followed after it was never good for the person Natsu was grinning at.

 **"FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!"** shouted Natsu as crimson flames formed around his right fist that he had cocked back and then sent into the man's chest. Easily breaking his ribs, as he was then sent flying through a burning wall and crashing out into the crowded street that was already littered with mages too hurt to move.

The crowd that had gathered around the burning pub, which over the course of the last ten minutes kept on spitting out defeated mages were all waiting to see the person behind all of this. So when he finally walked out of the door as the whole building came crumbling down behind him they were shocked to say the least at his appearance. Most of them were expecting a behemoth of a man since some of the men thrown out completely destroyed where nothing to be looked down upon. So imagine the thoughts running through their heads as an average sized man with pink hair and a white coat with a little red stepped out with a smug little grin.

"He did all of that?" asked a woman from the crowd.

"Considering that he's the last one out and barely looks like they touched him I'd say so." answered a man as they all watched Natsu walk up to the closest body and kneel down next to it. All of them then holding their breath waiting to see what he would do and as some of them were getting ready to run.

"You just had to pick a fight with me didn't you?" asked Natsu with same smug grin as he slapped the guy so that he would focus on him. The man let out a little whimper as soon as he realized who was kneeling next to him.

"I can guess why you don't want to speak to me since last time that only got you into more trouble. But I guess there wasn't really any way for you to know that calling me a Fairy was probably the worst mistake in your life. Although since this is already the fifth time I've done something like this maybe the word will start spreading that you should never call me that." he said with a smile that made the man want to hide in a hole.

"Who is this guy?" asked someone from the crowd.

"And why does he look so familiar?" asked another.

"Isn't there a well-known mage from Fairy Tail with pink hair?" asked a man, not noticing the terrified looks all of the wounded mages now had on their faces after hearing that.

"It's not pink and I'm no longer affiliated with that place anymore." growled Natsu as he glared at the man. Only to then go and pick the pockets of the man at his feet taking absolutely anything of value, all the while the crowd just stood there and watched him then go around and do this to every other person he had beaten up.

"Is he really stealing from them while we're all watching him?" asked a woman to her friend in just a whisper.

"It's not stealing since these assholes were the ones to attack me first, think of it more as the spoils of war." he replied with a little smirk while getting off of his knees and wiping away some dust.

"He could actually hear her say that." said a shocked person since they were just barely able to hear her and was only two feet away. Unlike Natsu who was at least twenty yards away from the woman that whispered, give or take a few feet.

"Yes I could, we dragon slayers have incredible senses that allow us to hunt down anyone we've ever fought with before if we want to have a rematch or just stop by for a friendly visit. Oh and here's some jewels to help you hopefully rebuild your bar that got ruined because of them." he said as he walked up to a man that was still just staring at the smoldering heap that used to be his bar.

"This is nowhere nearly enough." stated the owner as he looked at the wad of jewels that Natsu had just given him.

"Do I look like some sort of charity mister, you're lucky I even gave you a single jewel since this all happened because those assholes tried to pick a fight with me. So shut the hell up before I take it back you ungrateful bastard." he said while glaring at the owner of the bar he just destroyed, who staggered back and fell to the ground under Natsu's glare.

"Well I think I've overstayed my welcome here." he stated with a big smile and then turned around and started to walk towards the outskirts of the town.

"Who was that man mommy?" asked a little kid that was amongst the crowd.

"That was Salamander who used to be a member of Fairy Tail." replied the mom as she looked down at her son.

"Why did he hurt all of those men?" he asked while pointing at the men on the ground still in immense pain.

"Because he was angry at them for calling him something that he didn't like and they also tried to fight him. And like I've always told you fighting is wrong." she replied with a little smile as her son nodded in agreement that fighting was wrong.

"What did they call him?" he asked as they started to walk towards their house which was their initial goal until a body flew at them.

"They called him a Fairy." she replied with a little grin since it wasn't a bad word at all.

"Is that a bad word?" he asked with a confused look since he never heard anyone tell him to not say it.

"For most people it isn't, but for Salamander it probably brings back painful memories." she explained with a slight frown.

"How come?" he asked obviously interested because of everything that he just saw.

"I'll explain it to you when you're older." she replied.

"But that's what you say when aren't going to tell me!" pouted the boy causing his mom to chuckle.

 **With Natsu walking down a random ally:**

"You do realize that I've known that your little group has been following me ever since I came to this town right?" he asked while coming to a stop waiting for a response.

"Pretending like you didn't hear that isn't going to change the fact that I know that all three of you are here alone and without your leader. Probably because he sent you out to go and find me which is interesting since he's always looked down on me like the rest of the guild." he stated with a smirk yet still didn't get a response from any of them.

"I'm correct aren't I, which means that he has some sort of big plan and wants to use me like everyone else does. Well if that's the case then you should probably come on out and fill me in but I have to warn you that my services aren't cheap." he said still smirking to himself as he remained alone in the alley.

"Well if that's how you guys want to play this then I guess I can start hunting you down one by one, and I'll start with Evergreen since I can smell the fear practically rolling right off her. After that probably Freed since that sword of his would be a nice little trophy to have, and last but not least Bixlow since it would be fun burning up all of his dolls until he has no more left to put his souls into." he said, which finally got them to show themselves.

"I am not afraid of you in the slightest!" shouted Evergreen as she glared at him.

"Then you're a bigger idiot than I thought you were." he replied causing the other two to hold her back from attacking him.

"Let me at that smug and arrogant bastard!" she shouted as her partners held her firmly.

"Ever, remember why we're here." stated Freed as he glared at her.

"We're trying to get him to join us." said Bixlow as his dolls chanted "us".

"You really should listen to them Ever, I'd hate for Laxus to think I don't want to hear what he has to say if you all returned to him broken and defeated." he said in a taunting tone while stretching out her name as well.

"Like you could take the three of us on by yourself." said Bixlow no longer trying to keep Evergreen back since he now wanted to attack Natsu as well.

"We're Laxus' personal guard and could easily defeat trash like you." she declared glad that Bixlow was now on her side.

"Guys still remember why we're even here." said Freed as he still held Evergreen back.

"Seems like you're the only one that actually has any sense Freed, must be the reason why Laxus trusts you so much. As for you two, I most certainly could take all three of you on at the same time even with your little eye spells that you all have. And yes I know all about them while also knowing about Laxus' secret that I don't even think you three know." he stated once again having a smug smile on his face as their faces turned to ones of complete shock at how much he actually knew.

"Laxus doesn't keep anything from us." declared Freed no longer holding Ever back since she was surprised that Natsu was so confident at beating all of them even after knowing about their special eye spells.

"We'll see about that Freed, so what is this offer that Laxus felt the need to have you three hunt me down to just deliver it?" he asked with an amused look on his face since Bixlow and Ever were still shocked by him knowing all of that and apparently more.

"You've changed Natsu." stated Freed as he looked at the mage in front of him and would have to say that the only thing that was the same thing about his old self was the hair.

"People have told me that before. But what gave it away for you Freed, the little display I put on in that bar? Or could it be when I killed Jose a few weeks ago, or maybe when I killed a few dark mages even a few weeks before that?" asked Natsu now having that creepy grin he kept using on Gajeel on his face.

"All of it actually, and Laxus wanted to invite you back to joining Fairy Tail. And he's not talking about that weak guild that kicked you out for completing an S-Class quest, what Laxus is talking about is a new Fairy Tail that will strike fear into the hearts of our enemies. A guild where only the strong will survive and weakness will not be tolerated." he said with a grin that was lost as soon as Natsu started to chuckle which soon turned into full on laughing. It took everything that Freed had to not attack him for laughing at Laxus' plans like that, but since he was ordered to not fight him at all cost he managed to do it.

"Oh man Freed I honestly didn't think you even knew what a joke was, but man did you just prove me wrong with that one you just told me." said Natsu while wiping away a fake tear and finally stopped his hysterical laughing.

"I wasn't joking Natsu." he growled out to him.

"Darn, then I guess I was right about you after all. And if you were serious then my only response to that is I'll have to see it to believe it. Because as long as Makarov is the Master of Fairy Tail the guild will be nothing like you just described, which means I'll have more than a few reasons to not be associated with that place ever again." he replied while turning away from them and starting to walk out of the ally.

"Wait Natsu, Laxus has a plan to make all of that happen and you could help make it happen." stated Freed, which got Natsu to stop walking away from them.

"As I said before my services don't come cheap and I would only have a few rules if I agreed to help." he said still with his back to them.

"And what would those be?" asked Freed.

"No one dies of course, but the main one that you'll have to be concerned about is Levy and Mira are to be left completely out of this." he stated.

"Sorry Natsu but your precious little girlfriends are still part of the guild so they're going to be in the middle of it." said Evergreen with a little grin.

"That wasn't a suggestion Ever, if any of you do anything to either of them that I don't like I will enjoy showing your heart to you while I'm holding it in front of your face. Those are the terms if Laxus still wants to involve me in this plan of his, and I'm confident that he'll be able to find me when it's actually closer to the time of this plan of his and we can work out my pay then." he said in calm voice that they all knew was just masking the rage he had for mainly Ever right now after her previous comment. Along with that calm voice he also let out some of his magic causing them to unconsciously take a step back from him only to watch him walk out into the streets and head out of town.

"He actually meant that didn't he?" she asked with a little tremor in her voice as she tried to not let her partners know how scared she was right now.

"Yes he did, and would try and go through with it if we mess with those two." said Freed with a slightly relaxed face since Natsu was finally gone.

"I don't think we should use him." she stated not wanting to be around him after witnessing that little darker side of him at the end there.

"I'm going to have to agree with Ever on this." said Bixlow as he did a quick shake to try and get rid of that creepy feeling Natsu left him with.

"It's not our choice, Laxus said that he wants to work with him and bring him back into the new guild. So that's exactly what we're going to do." stated Freed as he led them out of the ally.

"But he's changed more than Laxus or anyone else knows." he replied with a slight frown.

"What do you mean by that Bixlow?" asked Evergreen since this wasn't like him at all.

"He's soul has actually gotten a few shades darker than it used to be." he stated not realizing that they wouldn't understand what that meant.

"So what?" she asked while giving him a slight glare.

"Just getting someone's soul to change a single shade takes a lot, but going multiple like his did is something that I've never seen before. And I think that he actually meant he would enjoy killing us if we went against what he said, and I mean really enjoy it." he explained with an uneasy look.

"Actually being able to kill someone is one thing, but for him to get pleasure out of doing so is something we need to be concerned about. We need to inform Laxus about all of this, and hopefully he'll see it's not the worth the risk to have someone like that working with us." stated Freed with a thoughtful expression and now clearly on their side of not wanting Natsu to be working with them.

 **With Natsu in the woods:**

"You were there when I told the others about me knowing that they were following me, so you have to know that I've known about you as well. And you've actually been following me for longer than those other three so let's have ourselves a little chat." he said only to lean back and watch a clump of trees behind him all fall over after being cleanly cut only an inch higher than his current position.

"Now this is my kind of greeting!" he chuckled out while both of his hands were then coated in his crimson flames as he got back up into a standing position. As he now waited for the assailant to send their next attack at him so he could get a better feel for them while also hopefully countering the attack in the process.

But like most times when plans are made on the fly, they never seem to go off that smoothly. And this was one of those times for him as he rolled to the right and a few trees in a line were split straight down the middle. He would have loved to admire the sheer power required to do something like that but had to keep dodging as similar strikes were still being sent at him. This carried on for a few minutes with Natsu laughing the whole time and resulting in a large clearing being made in the middle of the woods and finally exposing his assailant.

Standing across from him was woman dressed in a white kimono that was open at the top letting him see her shoulders and a large amount of cleavage, since she definitely had a curvaceous figure. Holding the kimono in place was a large black piece of cloth tied around her waist with a smaller red one directly on top of it. On the lower left side of her kimono was some sort of emblem that he didn't recognize and assumed it was from whatever guild she belonged to.

On each sleeve she had a red ribbon tied around them to add a bit of flair to her mainly white kimono, which could be the reason for the black choker that had a small buckle on the front of it that she wore around her neck. But the thing that stood out the most about this woman was her long pink hair that she had only parts of it tied up to look like a big bow, while the rest came down to the middle of her back. He also noticed that under each eye was a single beauty mark, but what he locked on to were her red lips that she had in a smirk right now as she looked at him.

"That's quite the sword slash you have here." he stated while eyeing the sword that she held in between her crossed arms. Only for her smirk to grow ever so slightly just before she launched another one of her attacks at him that he was just barely able to dodge by a few centimeters this time.

"Not much for talking are you, well that's fine by me **FIRE DRAGON'S ARROWS!** " shouted Natsu as he jumped over her next slash and launched two fireballs at her. As he landed he launched two more and chose to keep sending more as he kept moving knowing that she was too dangerous of an opponent to stay still.

As the first two fireballs got closer to her he was intrigued when her smirk only grew as she then slashed the fireballs in half causing them to veer off in opposite directions from their other half and going around her harmlessly. He hoped that she had just gotten lucky but she did the exact same thing to every single ball of fire he sent at and didn't care how many he threw.

"That's probably the best swordsmanship I've ever seen." he stated as he landed a good twenty yards away from her.

"Thank you and might I complement you on your agility and reflexes, most of my opponents would have been dead by now." she stated still smirking at him.

"You can talk I was starting to think that you were a mute, which would have sucked since we couldn't have a nice conversation like this." he replied only for him to once again have to dodge a fatal blow sent at him. So going against his better judgment he decided to try his luck at close range which has always been his expertise.

"Interesting strategy, normally charging someone with a sword is a death sentence." she stated as Natsu was right next to her now trying to land a fiery punch or kick on her. That she was expertly parrying while trying to cut him but was also failing to land anything other than a few scratches on him.

"As you probably already know I'm anything but normal." he said with a smirk as their faces were just inches away from each other. And then jumping back to where he was standing before she reinitiated their fight just a little bit ago.

"Indeed you are Salamander." she replied with a small smile, which shocked him since she had only been smirking at him this whole time until now.

"It seems that you know me, but I still have no idea who you are." he replied with a smile of his own.

"Ikaruga." was her simple reply still smiling at him.

"Okay Ikaruga, why did you all of a sudden attack like that? Because if you were sent to kill me I think you should think again before you just take assassinations like that when you don't really know who you're going up against." he said while keeping a cautious eye on her.

"Oh I know exactly who I'm dealing with Natsu Dragneel, ex-mage of Fairy Tail who is rumored to have killed Jose." she responded as she started to walk towards him.

"It's not a rumor, but you still haven't told me if you were sent to kill me." he stated as she slowly got closer.

"If I was sent to kill you Salamander than you would already be dead." she said once again having that smirk from before.

"I'll have to disagree with you on that one, but if you aren't trying to kill me then why are you here?" he asked with an eyebrow raised as she continued to get closer.

"Who said I wasn't trying to kill you Salamander, you and I both know that if you didn't dodge all of my attacks then you would be dead right now? And as for why I'm attacking you consider it a test that very few people have ever passed." she stated now just a foot away from him.

"I take it that this test was to see if I was strong enough for something?" he asked as she stood right in front of him by only a foot.

"Yes and if you would have died then you weren't as strong as the rumors about you say." she answered only to give him a quick kiss on the cheek then step around him and start walking away.

"Is that it?" he asked with a confused look on his face.

"For now at least Salamander." she replied as she headed into the woods with a thin smile on her red lips.

"What did passing that test do for me even?" he asked her retreating figure.

"All will be explained later Salamander." came her reply before disappearing from his view.

"I know she said people were going to be coming at me with offers but that was by far the weirdest one to date. And that's saying something since I never would have thought Laxus would admit that I'm worthy to even fight with him." thought Natsu as he stood there and surveyed the battlefield that cleared out a good chunk of the woods with a few small fires burning here and there.

"Well I guess I should continue on as planned after those two unexpected visits." he thought as he left the area not caring about the fires that were starting to grow in size.

 **Four days later at Fairy Tail:**

"That's it everyone, I'm calling it quits for the day." said Makarov as most of the guild members let out a sigh of relief as they stopped on the reconstruction of the guild hall.

"It's coming along quite nicely Master." stated Erza as they looked at frame of the guild hall that is already bigger than the previous one.

"I'd say that we should have it done within the next two weeks." he replied with a proud look on his face for how much they've already accomplished.

"When the guild comes together there's nothing we can't do." stated Mira as she continued to hand out drinks to some of the other guild members that had proud grins on their faces.

"I don't know about all that, because last I checked you guys weren't able to handle Phantom Lord by yourself." said Natsu with a big grin on his face while he got up from the building that he was leaning against.

"Natsu!" said Mira and Levy in surprised yet happy tones while a few other members were lacking the happy part when they said his name.

"Mira, Levy always good to see the two of you. Everyone else I guess I'm kind of neutral on, but I do kind of feel hurt by the tone since I did save all of you from dying about a month ago. Especially you Lucy since you tried to kill yourself and then had a little run in with Black Steel during that time as well." he replied still grinning at them.

"Hello Natsu, it's good to see you." stated Makarov with a smile.

"The feeling is not mutual Makarov." he responded now glaring at him and scaring a few of the other members.

"Natsu what's wrong with you, that's not how you should ever address Master?" said Erza as she glared back at him.

"It's fine Erza, considering that I'm no longer his Master he can address me however he likes." replied Makarov with a sad smile, but was happy that Natsu was no longer glaring at him like he was hoping for him to explode.

"Yea Erza, I can do anything I want now that I've been kicked out of this guild of yours that will treat you like a piece of trash and toss you away. But hey that's what Makarov does to what he claims to see as his family, which shouldn't surprise me since he did that even to his own son." said Natsu with a smile. A few of the members were shocked that he could say something like that while still sounding and looking so happy about it.

"Natsu you know Master didn't have any choice about expelling his son." hissed Mira as she glared at him. Now wondering what had gotten into him since he was now deliberately saying things to hurt Makarov which was something he never would have done before.

"Actually I don't Mira because he's never talked about it, and from what I could gather that was also when Laxus became a selfish asshole that we all know today." he replied with a little grin as Makarov remained silent.

"Natsu that's enough, if you only came here to say such things then I think you should leave." said Erza in her most threatening tone possible.

"I actually came by to say hi to Mira and Levy, oh and two other people that are actually in town. And since the first two are right here that's why I'm here at the present time. Also Erza you should know that I'm not frightened of you and haven't been since we were little kids." he stated still grinning at them.

"Like hell you were Flame Brain!" shouted Gray as he came towards the front with a smug grin.

"It's the truth Stripper, here I'll show you." he replied still looking like the smug jerk that he has since showing up. "Erza please don't I didn't mean to smash your cake please don't beat me!" he then said while looking like he was terrified of her until he once again returned to that smug look from before.

"Like I said, I haven't been afraid of her for a while now. And if anyone should be afraid it should definitely be her since I now have no reason not to pay her back for beating the shit out of me and anyone else over something as stupid as her cake." he stated with a creepy grin making its way across his face.

"Natsu please stop trying to start a fight." said Levy as she got in front of him along with Mira right behind her. Making a little wall to stop Gray and Erza from attacking him, since they happened to be the two that were the most upset with him right now after the things he's been saying.

"Wasn't going to be much of a fight, but yeah I'll stop pushing their buttons just for you two." he stated with a genuine smile directed at the girls right in front of him.

"Thank you Natsu." she replied with a smile back.

"You mentioned wanting to visit two other people while you were in town, who are they?" asked Mira hoping to easy the slight tension that he made over the short amount of time that he has been with them.

"One is Juvia who seems to be having trouble deciding if she should join your guild. She's probably worried that you won't accept her after everything her old guild did, or maybe she's afraid that she'll be kicked out later because she's friends with me." he started but was cut off by Mira.

"Natsu we would never do either of those things to her!" she declared while looking at him with an upset face for even thinking such things.

"Hey, I never said those things to her. I was only coming up with possible reasons why she's been in Magnolia for more than a week and isn't here with you guys." he replied with his hands held up defensively.

"She's been here that long?" asked Lucy who still didn't know what to think about the odd rain woman.

"At least that's what my nose is telling me, oh and Makarov she's actually a really good person." he stated with a serious expression.

"Natsu I would never let my feelings for someone else affect my decision on a new member joining the guild." said Makarov with a serious look sent back at Natsu.

"Then you should go get her Natsu and both of you can join the guild together." suggested Mira with her usual smile.

"Sorry Mira I really wish I could but there are some things that are preventing me from ever joining Fairy Tail again." he replied with a sad smile and a quick glance at Makarov who locked eyes with him briefly.

"What things are preventing you Natsu?" she asked with a concerned look as a few other members had sad expressions knowing what they were and that he wouldn't be able to tell her.

"I know you think you can help me on this but you can't." he stated with a cold stare directed at her.

"We can help you Ash for Breath, even with the thing that you told me about at Phantom Lord." said Gray with a confident grin as he stood there in nothing but his boxers.

"He's right Natsu, all we need to do is talk some of this stuff out and things can then go back to how they were." said Erza with a smile.

"It can never go back to how it truly was before I got kicked out, not with him being gone Erza." he replied with a sad look on his face as he and everyone else thought of the blue little Exceed that always used to accompany him everywhere he went. That one comment instantly got everyone to realize that he was correct about it never going back to how it used to be.

"I know it's hard Natsu, and I understand what you are going through. But I can only help you if you let me." she said with a caring smile.

"You understand what I'm going though? How the hell would you know what it feels like to be kicked out of what you considered your family? Or how would you know what it's like to watch your best friend and son die because you weren't strong enough to protect him? Please tell me Erza how you have any fucking idea at all how it feels to lose absolutely everything that you still cared about in just a month?" he asked while glaring at her as a few tears escaped his eyes.

"Natsu I…" she started.

"I shouldn't have come here, oh and Jellal sends his regards." he said cutting her off while turning and walking away. All of the guild was shocked since they didn't think he was still in that much pain over all of it by the way he was acting earlier with them. Also add in the fact that they actually saw him crying and every Fairy Tail member was too shocked to do anything but let him walk into the town leaving them stunned into silence.

This also caused none of them to notice the terrified look that Erza now had on her face just from the mere mention of Jellal's name. Causing her to start questioning how he even knew his name which then led her to start to questioning how much he knew about her past that she had been keeping a secret for all of these years. All of these uncertainties left her feeling weak and helpless like she felt when she was at that place.

 **With Juvia:**

"Natsu-sama said that they were good people so Juvia should just go and ask them if she can join." she said to herself trying to build up the courage to go and talk with Fairy Tail.

"They'd accept you like I told you they would Juvia." said Natsu with a little grin as she let out a little surprised yelp while jumping back away from him. Only for her to then run back to him and hug him as hard as she could.

"Natsu-sama you're actually out, Juvia was worried she'd never see you again." she said with her head buried in his chest.

"I told you that I would be out shortly." he replied while gently hugging her back.

"A month is not a short time Natsu-sama." she replied with a quick glare that went back to a happy smile as she continued to hug him.

"It was just over two weeks Juvia and I just noticed that it's not raining just like the last time we talked." he pointed out with a grin until her hugging started to get tighter.

"If you got out after two weeks why didn't you come and see Juvia right away?" she asked in a cold tone while not looking up at him.

"I did Juvia, but it takes a while to walk that far. Don't you remember that I hate trains and I also needed to track you down since I didn't know exactly where you'd be at." he explained while resting his chin on her head and instantly feeling her grip relax.

"Oh Juvia forgot about that, and the rain stopped after Juvia realized she was no longer going to be with Phantom Lord and could be with her Natsu-sama." she said with probably one of the happiest smiles he's ever seen, which hurt him since he had to most likely ruin this happy moment for her.

"Sorry Juvia but I don't think it'd be a good idea for you to travel around with me." he said and instantly saw the hurt look come onto her face as she backed away from him.

"You don't want to be around Juvia?" she asked as she started to remember all of the other times she was cast aside for being different.

"No that's not the reason at all Juvia and you've got to believe me about this." he said with a pleading look that made her want to believe him right then and there, but she wasn't going to let him get away with no explanation.

"Then tell Juvia why she can't be with her Natsu-sama." she stated with a determined look on her face.

"I would never want to put you through something like that Juvia. You're still able to join any other guild you want unlike me, who has to go all over the place trying to find a job for an independent mage that right now is just famous for killing Jose and destroying a lot of stuff. Why would anyone want to be associated with someone like that when they could live a happy and more normal life if they just joined another guild." he explained with a sad smile.

"Juvia wouldn't care about all of that, she would just be happy to be with her Natsu-sama." she replied with a bright smile.

"I know Juvia, which is why I can't let you do something like that for me. I'm not worth it, so please just join a guild, any guild will work it doesn't even have to be Fairy Tail. I just want you to have a normal life where you won't be concerned about having enough jewels or people coming after you, which are both going to be things that I'll be dealing with constantly." he continued with the same sad smile.

"You'd be worth all of that to Juvia." she said with a hopeful smile as she reached for him but he moved out of the way.

"Sorry, even if that's true you still can't come with me I don't think I could handle it if it happened again." he said while turning away from her.

"Couldn't handle what Natsu-sama?" she asked while coming up behind him and gently hugging him.

"Losing another person I care about. Everyone that gets close to me eventually gets ripped away from me and I am never going to let that happen again." he answered while clenching both of his fists in anger.

"That won't happen to Juvia." she said with a caring smile as he turned around in her hug.

"You're right because you won't be coming with me and that's final. And if you can't deal with that then we're probably never going to see each other again." he stated with absolute certainty.

"Natsu-sama I…" she started.

"Sorry Juvia but I'd rather lose you as a friend than have to watch you die. I think I should be going." he cut her off while having a sad smile and getting out of her hug. Then he slowly started to walk away from her until she grabbed his arm.

"Juvia doesn't want to lose you either Natsu-sama so she won't follow you, but please don't leave just yet." she said with teary eyes. As he then brought her into a hug that made all of her previous worries melt away as his warmth washed over her.

"I can stay for a little bit longer." he whispered into her ear.

"Thank you Natsu-sama." she said while enjoying this moment that they were sharing.

"For what?" he asked, confused since he only turned her down today and made her sad.

"For caring about Juvia that much and helping get rid of her rain." she replied while taking in his scent, which smelt like a burning forest. He honestly didn't know how to respond to that so he remained silent for a few more minutes as they remained like that in each other's arms. Luckily for him she decided to fill him in on everything that had happened to her since that last time they saw each other before the silence became awkward between the two of them. This then transitioned into them having a casual conversation for a few hours until he told her that he had to leave but promised that he would come back and visit her and the rest of Fairy Tail since that was the guild she decided to join during their long conversation.

 **At an abandoned warehouse:**

"So is everything going as planned Gajeel?" asked a Shikigami that was floating next to Gajeel's right shoulder. Who now only had a few bandages remaining on his body but otherwise looked like he was completely fine unlike a few weeks ago.

"Yes Master Ivan, the old fool came to me just like you said he would. Saying that everyone needs a second chance and how he would gladly offer that chance to me and help send me down the right path." replied Gajeel with a grin.

"My father has always liked to just see the best in people and that will be the cause of his downfall. So when will you actually be joining that little guild of his?" asked Ivan as his Shikigami remained next to Gajeel.

"I plan on joining shortly, don't want the old geezer thinking I'm too eager for this." he answered as he thought he could smell the scent of someone he would rather not meet right now.

"Smart Gajeel, and remember that you'll first need to gain their trust so they will let their guard down around you." stated Ivan.

"I know all about that Master Ivan, but what is it exactly that you want me to find out about them?" he asked as he continued to try and lock in on that scent he smelt earlier.

"I of course want to get intel on their strongest member, such as their strengths and weaknesses. But the main thing I want you to try and find out is Fairy Tail's dark secret that Makarov is protecting and was willing to banish me in order to keep its very existence hidden." answered Ivan with a little tinge of venom in his voice.

"Will do, but most of their stronger mages are never at the guild from what I've heard and Titania is someone that I can already deal with already by myself." he pointed out.

"Yes that will definitely make it harder on you, but just because they aren't there doesn't mean you can't get information on them. My son won't be a problem for me to deal with and neither will the she demon after she lost her magic. But those other two you need to be careful for, especially the old man since he might be even stronger than Makarov." stated Ivan in a thoughtful tone.

"They have a member that rivals Makarov?" asked Gajeel in a shocked tone since Makarov was one of the ten Wizard Saints.

"Yes Fairy Tail does, Gildarts Clive their ace who is currently on a hundred year quest but he still could show up at any time. And the only reason he's also not a Wizard Saint is due to him accidentally destroying anything in his way when he's not paying attention, which apparently happens a lot." he replied with a little chuckle.

"Thank God he didn't show up during that my old guild's war with them." said Gajeel just imagining how much worse it would have been for them in the beginning if he was there.

"You were very lucky indeed Gajeel, but it would appear that Salamander was enough to deal with your old guild. And to think that Makarov would kick out such a mage from his guild when he could take on a Wizard Saint at such a young age." he said with an excited tone.

"That guy is full on crazy and I'm glad he's no longer around." stated Gajeel as he felt a shiver go up his spin.

"You're right Black Steel, I am full on crazy. And it would be really smart if you remembered that and warned Ivan there what I'm capable of doing to anyone that pisses me off." said Natsu as he dropped from the rafters with a big grin on his face. As Gajeel was now terrified after the severe beating he received from the man in front of him, who then went on to go and kill Jose afterwards meaning that he was just toying with him the whole time.

"Salamander what are you doing here?" asked Gajeel as he took a few steps back.

"To pay you a visit of course, I did promise you that we would see each other in about a month. I didn't think you'd be hiding out in a warehouse in Magnolia though, plotting some nefarious plan with a man named Ivan. And why does that name sound so familiar to me?" he said while scratching his chin in thought.

"The infamous Salamander, I didn't think that the two of us would get to speak to each other this soon." said Ivan through the Shikigami that was now floating in between the two dragon slayers.

"No that's not right, where have I heard that name before? Come on Black Steel help me remember why that name sounds so familiar to me." he asked completely disregarding Ivan.

"How would I know Salamander, and if it's another fight you want I'd be more than happy to give it to you." replied Gajeel, even though the last thing he actually wanted to do right now was get into a fight with him.

"Na you're not worth my time right now Black Steel, maybe after you train for a few months we can actually have a good fight. But as you are now I would easily defeat you before I even broke a sweat, besides I met a woman earlier who is quite an impressive opponent that I've got my eyes set on right now." he replied before going back to mumbling about Ivan's name being familiar.

"Is he always like this?" asked Ivan as his Shikigami came closer to Gajeel.

"Not from what I've seen, he's usually creepier and looks like he's ready to rip your head off." stated Gajeel with a confused look.

"You're Makarov's son aren't you, which would explain why Black Steel here is going to be spying for you." he said all of a sudden now glaring at Gajeel and the Shikigami.

"Yes I am Salamander, but from what I've heard you no longer care about Makarov." stated Ivan.

"That old man can die for all I care, but if either of you two do anything to the people that I still care about in that guild I'll be coming for you. And this time Black Steel I wouldn't be just giving you a beating, I'd give you the same treatment that I gave Jose." he declared while still advancing on the dragon slayer. Who unfortunately heard all about how Natsu mercilessly beat Jose, letting his pain filled screams echo throughout their guild halls as a warning to all of them.

"Who are they?" asked Gajeel wanting to make sure that he didn't accidentally incur his wrath.

"Same as before Gajeel but now just add Juvia as well. Otherwise I don't care what you do to the rest of the other guild members as long as they survive, but if you do happen to kill one of them other than Makarov. Well I don't really think I need to go into the gory details of how I would start removing some of your bones while you're still awake." he replied with that creepy grin.

"You truly have gone off the deep end Salamander." said Ivan in an amused tone.

"Is there really such a thing Ivan, because after the stuff I've already experienced I'd argue that there isn't." he said no longer having that creepy grin.

"That would be correct Salamander, so I'd like to offer you a job." replied Ivan.

"Pass, just knowing that you're the son of Makarov makes me dislike you since you're bound to have a few similarities. I can work with your son since he's pretty much been spending his whole life trying to be the exact opposite of him." answered Natsu while waving his hand dismissively.

"I am nothing like him also Salamander and I can prove that…" said Ivan until this Shikigami was burnt up the next second.

"I already said that I pass, well this was a pleasant surprise for me since I was going to have this little meeting of ours earlier Black Steel. But things happen so I couldn't make it until you happened to be having your own little secret meeting." he said once again having that creepy grin he always had when Gajeel was around.

"It's not what it looks like Salamander." said Gajeel in a slightly panicked tone.

"Calm down Black Steel I truly don't care as long at those three don't get hurt in any way. Well it was fun chatting with you and Ivan like that but I think I should be off now, oh and remember what happens if you don't heed my warnings Black Steel." he said before walking away from Gajeel who was now all alone in the warehouse.

 **With Natsu outside of Magnolia:**

"What's so important that you needed to keep calling me for the last hour?" asked Natsu as he glared at a communication lacrima that was displaying Seigran since he was in his council attire and was just smirking at him.

"Obviously a job for you that actually works for our little agreement as well." he replied with a smirk.

"What's this job that I'm supposed to do and wasn't Yajima supposed to be my handler or something?" he asked with a skeptical look.

"Yes, which is why this call will be brief and all other calls you receive from us will only tell you a location to go to get the information on your next mission from. And for this one you need to head to Hargeon and order a shot of firewhiskey from the bar tender at The Drunken Sailor." said Seigran before ending the call.

"The Drunken Sailor and a shot of firewhiskey, I guess that should be easy enough to remember." he said to himself with a grin before seeing where the sun was located and then heading south where he knew Hargeon was located in relation to Fairy Tail.

 **End of Chapter**

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter that still didn't have too much action in it. And I was going to have a fight scene between Natsu and Gajeel but then thought it would be a while before Gajeel would actually want to fight him again after the major beating he received the first time. So as you can see the next chapter and most likely the one after that are going to be the Tower of Heaven arc. And because of that I have a question for all of you and that is how do you want me to do the upcoming Arc, because I am planning as of right now to probably only show the things that change from the canon. So a few of the fight scenes and rehashing of Erza's back story will be left out since I am confident that almost everyone reading this has heard all of that enough times already that they probably don't want me telling them again. But then again I could completely be wrong about that and you actually might want me to do all of that stuff, which is why I'm asking you all right now and would really appreciate it if you let me know. So as always feel free to leave me a review or pm and I'll respond back as soon as I can.**

 **Until the next Chapter**

 **Digem Out!**


	8. Guard Duty

Ch 8: Guard Duty

"What the hell is wrong with you!" shouted a man wearing a black set of armor as he rolled out of the way of a red stream of fire that obliterated everything in its path.

"Nothing really, I just heard that you were supposed to be the big shot in these parts, so I thought I'd just drop by and say hi. But to be honest you're not that impressive, I seriously don't know why anyone would be afraid of you." replied Natsu as he continued to throw fireballs at the man that was just barely dodging the explosions that followed after they hit anything.

"That's your reason for attacking me and my men!" shouted the knight as he charged Natsu and started to slash away at him. But never even came close to landing a hit as the dragon slayer easily dodged them to only then counter him with his few punches to the knight's armor that was surprisingly still intact.

"Well that and apparently there's a bounty on your head that should keep me fed for a while." he answered with his creepy grin that he was using quite often now days.

"You picked a fight with me just for food money?" asked the knight after recovering from a hit that sent him to the other side of his office, which happened to be where they were fighting.

"Does it really matter why I'm doing any of this? All you need to know is that if you don't give it your all you're going to die here today." he stated while spreading the fire that was almost covering all of the walls already.

"You're going to take the down the whole place you fucking moron!" shouted the knight as he wanted to flee but one very big problem stood in his way and was clearly not going to let that happen.

"That's the plan, because otherwise this fight would be way too boring for me." he said as he lunged at the knight again. Once again starting their skirmish where Natsu clearly had the upper hand despite all of his attacks landing on the man's breastplate.

"You can say that all you want Salamander, but thanks to my armor you can't hurt me." taunted the man as he tried to sweep his legs, which Natsu easily dodged by jumping into the air. That was exactly what the man had been waiting for so while his opponent was still in midair he slashed with his sword while putting a lot of his magic into to the blade. Not underestimating the Salamanders strength or endurance like he did when the man attacked his compound just a few hours ago.

But as the blade got closer to reaching its mark he watched as Natsu leaned back while shooting fire out of his mouth. Getting it so that the blade was only an inch away from cutting into the chest of the fire mage that then landed on his hands only for him to then tuck and roll so he was just a few inches away from the knight. While still being underneath his arms that just finished the attack that the man hoped would be the end of this fight.

 **"FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!"** shouted Natsu as he smashed his right fist straight into the knight's chest piece. The result of that was red flames to shoot around him as he was once again launched away from his attacker and sent crashing into a wall. But as he struggled back to his feet he noticed that he felt lighter, so with a quick glance down he was shocked to find his breast plate shattered into tiny pieces.

"That was supposed to be unbreakable." he stuttered out as he looked at his pride and joy as it lay completely ruined on the floor.

"So far I haven't found a single thing that I couldn't destroy. And since I proved to you and the rest of the world that your precious armor can't withstand me I should finish this up." stated Natsu as a wicked grin spread across his face as he advanced on the terrified man, who lost all hope when his armor broke.

"Please don't kill me." he begged now on his knees as a few tears escaped his eyes.

"Sorry but your bounty says dead or alive, and I've already added your mark which means you have to die." answered Natsu as he kicked the man in the chest so he fell to his back and slid back a few feet.

"What mark are you talking about, never mind I'll pay you more than the bounty if you turn me in alive." pleaded the man as he tried to get back up but was stopped by Natsu's boot coming down on his chest and breaking a few ribs in the process.

"The mark is something I decided to do to remember important kills, but it would appear that I jumped the gun on you. I guess that mark will have dual purposes; the first one of course is your death while the second one will be that rumors are just that. And I should see for myself before I deem someone worthy enough to get a mark." he explained while applying more pressure and also lighting his foot on fire causing the man to scream out in the hopes that someone would come to his rescue.

"No one is coming for you, and the only person you should blame is yourself since you were too weak to protect what you care about." he hissed while watching the man claw at his boot in hopes to get him to stop.

"What about the jewels." screamed out the knight, knowing that his only chance was to hopefully buy his freedom from Salamander.

"I'll get even more jewels if I just kill you now and get them afterwards." he replied as a look of horror flashed over the knights face only for it to be blasted with a stream of fire from his attacker's hand. Killing him in just an instant so that he would no longer have to listen to his girly screams and pleas for mercy which always just aggravated him more than he already usually was.

So with a few swipes of his arms Natsu was able to get rid of all his own fire, allowing him to then suck in all of the remaining flames just before he would have to start worrying about the structural integrity of the building. As he surveyed the office he noticed that the two places that the knight's scent lingered the most were his desk and a picture on one of the walls. So with a slight smirk he headed to the picture frame and ripped it off the wall exposing a hidden safe in the process.

"How do other mages function with normal noses?" he asked to himself out loud with a little chuckle as he quickly burned the lock on the safe. As the safe's door swung open he was greeted with stacks of jewels and a few other documents that were actually the real reason that he was sent there. After completely emptying out the safe and storying all of its contents into his pocket dimension that only contained his jewels, a few odd documents and his final gift from Happy he grabbed the charred corpse and headed out of the building.

"What the hell Salamander!" shouted a Rune Knight as soon as he stepped outside.

"I did exactly as I said I would, you no longer have to worry about him or any of his men bothering your town again." he replied with a slight grin as he dropped the body of the knight at the Rune Knight's feet.

"Yeah because you brutally beat all of his men and killed him while also almost taking the whole building down with you." said the Rune Knight as he glared at him.

"Did a single innocent civilian get hurt?" asked Natsu as he now glared at the officer.

"No, but…" he started to say.

"But nothing, I did my job and you should just be happy that I didn't kill all of his men along with him. Now hand over the reward or what I just did here is going to be the least of your concerns!" growled Natsu just a foot away from the Rune Knight, which allowed him to see the fire in the back of the dragon slayer's throat that was just begging to be let out.

"Here, and please just leave." he replied while handing over a bag with the reward in it.

"I planned on it, oh and if you don't want someone to kill the person you're after then it would be smart to not have the bounty say dead or alive." said Natsu as he started to head towards the harbor. Leaving the Rune Knight with a shiver that went down his spine as he looked at Natsu who stood right in front of him just moments ago. He also couldn't believe that the man who just left used to be considered a respectable mage from Fairy Tail that only just destroyed things on his jobs. That part appeared to stay the same as the building behind the Rune Knight collapsed, but now it seems that the Salamander had become just as bad as the rumors have recently said about him.

"There's no fucking way that was a mission at the Wizard Saint level, I would have to say that it was closer to maybe A-Class. But then again now I'm no longer really concerned about hurting my opponents so maybe that's why it was so easy for me." Natsu thought as he headed into an ally and took a seat on a crate.

"Are you going to attack me again or is this just going to be a friendly chat?" he asked while putting his hands behind his head and closing his eyes.

"Let's go with a friendly chat, slash me coming to pick you up for your next job if you're still interested in working for Siegrain." said Ikaruga as she dropped down from a roof with a sly grin.

"Don't you mean Jellal and what happens if I decide that I don't want to work with that blue haired bastard?" he asked while opening one eye to look at her with a grin of his own as a look of surprise flashed over her face.

"Then I'm supposed to return to Jellal and continue on like normal, for some reason he thinks that you could still be of use to him even if you turn him down." she answered as she made her way towards him, deliberately having her hips sway more than she usually does.

"That's what you're supposed to do, but what I want to know is what you would actually do?" he asked while taking note of her slightly different walk than the last time they met.

"I would kill you this time of course; I can't have some random guy knowing where and whom I'm going to be working with. It's a policy that I have and has kept me alive a lot longer than most people in my line of work usually are." she replied with a smile as she sat down on the crate right next to him.

"And what line of work is that exactly, because once again you have me at a disadvantage Ikaruga, since I only know your name." he replied while looking over at her and was shocked to see her resting her head on his right shoulder. Once again being completely confused by this woman he decided to let her do as she pleased but kept a watchful eye on her since she proved to be a worthy opponent last time.

"I'm an assassin from Death's Head Caucus." she replied while taking hold of his right arm.

"So that's what the emblem on your outfit stands for, and you guys have quite the reputation." he said while she inspected his right fist.

"Failure is not an option, those who fail either commit suicide or are eventually killed by other members of the guild." she stated as if that wasn't a harsh way to run a guild.

"That's definitely one way to make sure that your members are loyal. So why did you once again just sit back while I fought that guy and his crew?" he asked since he noticed her presence before he even started taking them on.

"Because they were all weak and you can learn a lot just by watching someone fight. And after watching all of that I'm even more impressed with you since our last meeting." she replied while intertwining their fingers together as a slight smile spread across her red lips.

"Fair enough, but you do realize that what we're doing right now is kind of weird since you stated that you plan to kill me if I don't do this job." he said with a little chuckle.

"I am obviously hoping that you accept this job, if not then at least I'll have these last few moments with you to remember." she stated as she finally looked at him, and just for a second Natsu thought he might have saw a pleading look on her face. But before he could be sure she once again had her usual smirk but otherwise unreadable facial expression back on.

"You're making that sound like you're positive that you'll be able to defeat me." he stated with a sly grin.

"Of that I'm certain Salamander." she replied while once again resting her head on his shoulder and caressing the back of his hand with her thumb.

"Considering that our last time neither of us were going all out I'd have to say that isn't something you can be certain of." he pointed out to her, but was surprised to hear her slightly chuckle at that.

"You might have been not giving it your all Salamander, but I wouldn't be able to go much harder on you." she replied with a bigger smile than he'd ever seen her have.

"Then how in hell did you ever expect to beat me?" he asked while turning to her, which got her to no longer be resting her head on his shoulder.

"By doing something like this." she replied while slipping her arms around his neck and bringing him into a passionate kiss. Just as he was getting into it and about to advance to the next part he felt something sharp pressed up against his throat as she pulled away from him now with a knife in her hand.

"Very clever but now that you've shown this move it's never going to work on me again." he stated with a little anger in his tone as his inner dragon roared in frustration at once again being stopped before claiming one of his mates. Another reason why he was angry right now was due to the fact that he seemed to be only finding definite mates with women that were most likely only going to complicate his life since they are both members of dark guilds.

"True but I don't need to do it Salamander, especially since I can tell that you couldn't even kill me if you wanted to." she said with her knife still to his throat as she sat on his lap and licked her lips seductively.

"And how could you know something like that?" he asked while grabbing her wrist with one hand while the other one snaked its way around her waist.

"Because I read people Salamander and I can clearly see that you want me right now and could even possibly love me somehow. The way that you responded to me kissing you was clearly that of someone who wants more, not to mention that I can feel little Salamander wanting to make an appearance. But I guess little wouldn't be a very good description of what I'm feeling right now." she replied while shimmying on his lap with a sultry smirk spread across her lips.

"You're very attractive and I'd have to be gay to not be aroused when someone as deadly and beautiful as you throws herself at me. And yes I can also read people as well Ikaruga and right now I can see that you want me just as much as I want you." he whispered in her ear after tossing her knife and sword to the side.

"That's another reason that I like you Salamander, your senses are the sharpest that I've ever encountered. But there's one big difference between the two of us on this and that is I don't love you which can't be said for you." she whispered right back to him and gave him a quick nip on the earlobe.

"And how exactly do you know that I supposedly love you?" he asked, honestly surprised that she somehow figured out already that he couldn't kill her. But he was glad that she didn't know that it would actually be hard for him to even hurt her now that he confirmed that she was one of his mates.

"Okay maybe love was too strong of a word for whatever you have for me but it was the best that I could come up with. And I could tell that by looking into your eyes which told me that even if you had to kill me right now you couldn't bring yourself to do it." she answered while looking into his onyx eyes with one of her hands cupping the side of his face.

"I've heard that the eyes are the window to one's soul. And just so we're clear I don't love you, I just can't kill you for other reasons which doesn't mean I couldn't get you to a near death state." he stated with a little smirk as his free hand went up to her neck as he brushed away her hair to behind her shoulder. As he then gently traced her neckline and continued downwards until his hand met with her kimono that she was almost already slipping out of.

"So what's it going to be Salamander?" she asked with a sly grin as he looked back into her green eyes.

"I don't think you're really giving me much of a choice here." he replied as he slowly started to slide he kimono down further.

"There's always a choice Salamander, and if you choose to say no we can have a little fun before we get down to business." she said while adjusting the position on him so she was now straddling him with a mischievous look in her eyes.

"Do we still get to have fun if I say yes." he asked as he started to trail kisses down her neck line and pulling down her kimono just a little bit more.

"I see no reason why we couldn't add a little bit of fun to our business as well." she replied while looking into his eyes that were no longer lust filled like they were just seconds ago. Making Ikaruga think that she might have gone too far with all of this and he was now just angry with her.

"Then I say yes, and just so you don't get the wrong idea about me I was going to say yes before all of this." he stated with stern look as he stared at the woman straddling him right now.

"Interesting, but why did you feel the need to tell me that?" she asked with an eyebrow raised at him.

"So you know that you can't sway me with your body like you probably can with most men. So let's get to that fun part shall we." he replied only for her to hop off of him and quickly fix her attire and then grab her weapons.

"Sorry Salamander but that'll have to wait till later, but don't worry I plan to have a lot of fun with you." she stated with a smirk as she started to walk out of the ally. Leaving behind her a slightly confused and aroused dragon slayer that couldn't help but stare at the retreating figure that once again drew his eyes to her ass as she walked away.

"So are you coming or are you just going to keep checking me out." asked Ikaruga as he looked at him over her shoulder with a sultry grin.

"I'm coming and you women are going to be the death of me." he stated while hopping off of the crate and catching up to her.

"Women you say?" she asked with an amused grin.

"Yep, one of the reasons I'm confident that I don't love you. So what's our job and how much am I getting paid?" he asked with stern look sent her way.

"You could love multiple women Salamander, but getting straight to work is something I can agree with. It's just a simple guard job that if we're lucky we might get to face strong opponents that want to stop Jellal from using his tower. As for the pay that's something you'll have to talk to Jellal about." she replied once again having her usual smirk on her face as they headed towards the docks.

"I think you want me to love you, is it because you've never had that before in your life?" he asked her with a big grin.

"That is definitely not true." she stated as she led him through the crowd of fishermen and sailors.

"Which part Ikaruga?" he asked in an amused tone.

"Both Salamander." she hissed at him while hopping into a boat and looking back at him still remaining on the dock with a slight glare.

"You know you can just call me Natsu, and do I have to get into that thing?" he asked while pointing at the boat that was already making him sick just by looking at.

"Okay Natsu, and yes you have to get in here unless you want to go swimming for a few miles." she responded with an amused look now on her face as she looked at the man who just a few moments ago was looking down her blade without a hint of fear. But right now he looked as if he was just given the worst news in his life.

"I think a nice long swim sounds pretty good right now." he replied while starting to do some stretches, obviously getting ready for a swim.

"That was a joke Natsu, now get in the boat this instant." she commanded with a stern look and tone sent his way.

"It's always fucking god damn transportation." he mumbled while climbing in and instantly looking a little greener.

"I honestly thought that was a joke about you Natsu." she said with a little giggle as she started to steer the boat out to sea.

"Shut up." he replied while looking like he was going to barf any second now which only caused Ikaruga to start laughing at the pitiful state he was now in just because of being on a form of transportation.

 **At Fairy Tail:**

"Gray, Erza, look at what Loke just gave me." said Lucy with a big smile as she waved four tickets to the Akane Resort in their face.

"Wow, he just gave you four tickets to that place." replied Gray with a skeptical look on his face. Now wondering why Loke would ever give something like that to Lucy when he could have used them on his usual group of fangirls.

"Those must be pretty expensive." stated Erza as she stopped working on the guild hall which was only just a few days away from being completely rebuilt.

"They are, the package includes all expenses paid for three whole days." she replied with a huge smile.

"Too bad that we can't use them since there's still work to be done on the guild." replied Erza as she went back to work as Lucy and Gray both now rocked sad expressions.

"It would be a shame to waste such a gift, why don't you three go. And before you start to protest Erza you've all done enough work and really could use a break to get your minds cleared and have some fun." stated Makarov with a small grin as Lucy and Gray both perked up at this.

"Fine Master, but who are you going to give the fourth ticket to Lucy?" she asked while turning to look at the celestial mage that was now in a thoughtful pose. She would have invited Levy but she and the rest of Shadow Gear decided to go on their first job as a team again today since the incident and wouldn't return in time. Besides her and the two that she was already with the only other person at the guild she really connected with was Natsu and Happy. But she knew that he wasn't going to randomly show up and join them on a little vacation, she was broken from her thoughts as Mira set down a pitcher of water for them.

"Mira would you want to join the three of us on a trip to Akane Resort?" asked Lucy with a hopeful look.

"I'd love to but I'm pretty busy with my other duties, why don't invite Juvia? She rarely talks to anyone and still feels a little unwelcome here after the whole thing with her previous guild." suggested Mira with a bright smile.

"Really you want us to take her with us?" asked Gray with a confused look that turned into him rubbing his head after a steel gauntlet smacked him.

"There's nothing wrong with her Gray, I think you would probably be nervous joining the guild that you helped attack just a little over a month ago." said Erza as she glared at him.

"Then why the hell did she join us if she was just going to keep to herself?" he asked back with a glare that was soon overpowered by the knight's.

"I think she wanted to join us since we're Natsu's old guild and he even recommended us to her." stated Mira with her usual smile.

"How did those two even become friends?" asked Lucy, since said dragon slayer didn't seem to care about anyone else from Phantom as he turned on them and saved Fairy Tail from being completely destroyed.

"From what she told me he was actually like his old self when he was with her. She used to have rain following her everywhere she went at all hours of the day which scared off most people before they even got to know her. But of course that didn't stop Natsu at all and he even told her that he liked the rain since it calmed down the world for a little bit." she replied with her smile being even bigger than before.

"How the hell do you know this?" asked Gray with a puzzled look on his face.

"I've talked with Juvia a few times already since she joined, and she still is afraid that some of us might resent her for what she did. But I still didn't even get to the best part about why they're friends, apparently Natsu heard one of the members of Phantom Lord speaking ill of Juvia and he then beat the shit out of him for it. Doesn't that sound like something he'd do without caring about the consequences and seeing how much he cared for her finally lifted the rain that was following her around. He even promised just to come and visit her again sometime soon." she continued in a clearly excited tone at the possibility of Natsu forming new bonds with people. Something that she was afraid he wouldn't do after everything that happened to him recently.

"You're really weird sometimes Mira." stated Erza as she too couldn't help but feel a little better about Natsu apparently being like his old self a little.

"I've got no problem with her joining us." said Lucy with a small grin since she wanted to talk with the woman about said dragon slayer.

"It's Lucy's ticket and if she's fine with her joining after being captured by her my opinion really doesn't matter." stated Gray now just standing there in his boxers.

"Then it's settled, I expect to see all three of you at the train station bright and early tomorrow morning. But until then we'll have to make up for the work that we'll be missing." stated Erza with a grin before getting back to work. Gray joined her on the construction of guild while Lucy on the other hand went to go and find Juvia to invite her along knowing that she had to convince the rain woman to accept otherwise Erza would be upset with her.

 **Next day at the Tower of Heaven:**

He opened his eyes slowly as he tried to figure out where he was since the last thing he remembered was passing out because his constant complaining got on the nerves of a certain swordswoman. Thinking of said woman brought him a slight grin since she was unlike any other woman that he's met so far, not only was she extremely beautiful but she was just as deadly. So with his mind set on going to talk to said swordswoman Natsu tried to get up but felt an additional weight on his chest that stopped his movement.

Looking down he was instantly greeted with a mess of long salmon hair like his own that belonged to none other than Ikaruga. But he only looked at her hair for a second since her current attire instantly drew his attention, which would probably be better described as a lack of attire. She was just down to her bra and underwear, which were both a light blue and reminded him of what Happy found in one of Lucy's drawers because of how frilly they were.

All of this took him off guard since he had no idea how any of this came to be. Because even though they both made slight advances on each other just the other day he never would have guessed that he would find her half naked sleeping with him and holding onto him with a content smile spread across her face. This caused him to finally realize that he was just down to his boxers as well, which caused him to start worrying that they might have done something together with each other last night.

So wanting to know for sure Natsu took in a big breath with his nose only to let out a long sigh of relief since he couldn't smell any of the scents that are always accompanied with two people having sex. But apparently his sigh was just loud enough to wake the beauty that used to be sleeping on his chest as she then let out a little yawn that he could only describe as cute since it didn't fit with her personality at all.

"You should stop making so much noise Natsu." she tiredly said to him as she closed her eyes again and looked like she was going to go back to sleep on him.

"I only let out a sigh, I'm honestly surprised that something as quiet as that woke you." he stated with a little grin as he started to trace small circles on her back.

"You never know when someone might try to attack you, and when someone is sleeping they are usually the most vulnerable. Something I really think you need to work on Natsu since you were out like a light." she replied as she started to trace the scars that he had on his chest that she wasn't covering with her body.

"I'm perfectly fine when I'm asleep Ikaruga, I could obviously tell that I wasn't in any danger with you there." he stated causing her to look up at him with a curious look.

"And how is that a reasonable excuse for being completely out of it?" she asked, which was more like demanded to know if you went by the tone that she used.

"Sometimes you have to let others have your back, which is unfortunately what I have to do if I'm on any form of transportation. That is the reason that I don't use it unless I absolutely have to like we did yesterday and before you even say it I couldn't feel any killing intent directed at me while I was asleep so why wake up." he explained with a smirk.

"I don't know about that whole thing of letting someone watch your back, but I know for a fact that you need to keep a lookout for more than just killing intent." she stated while looking into his onyx eyes that seemed endless.

"That's where all my other senses come into play and since it was just you and me I had nothing to worry about." he said causing her to now have a frown.

"Are you saying that you're not afraid of me at all?" she asked looking away from him now starting to wonder if sleeping with him like this was too much.

"Not at all, but if you were going to do anything to me you would wait until I could fight back. And I know this since you and I are both the same in that regard, we both like to have a good fight if we can." he replied with a smirk which actually brought back a smile to Ikaruga's face.

"You're still actually afraid of me?" she asked him with a small smile.

"Of course I am, just the other day you told me that you would kill me if I turned down this job and I could tell that you definitely would have tried to do it." answered Natsu, finding it funny that she was happy at learning that he was still a little afraid of her.

"Not tried Natsu, I would have succeeded." she stated with her usual smirk.

"So care to explain why we're both dressed like this and I already know that nothing happened?" he asked and saw a flash of disappointment go across her face at not being able to trick him about what happened between the two of them last night.

"I didn't think you would want to sleep in your usual clothes and you were too warm for me to wear anything but this." she answered as she started to trace his abs with her fingers.

"So I take it we're at the Tower of Heaven." he said while starting to run his fingers through her long pink hair.

"Yes we are, but how are you so informed about all of this stuff already? From what Jellal told me you shouldn't even know his name yet you do while also knowing the name of his tower as well." she asked now looking at him intensely.

"Let's just say that I've got a few friends that know all about his plans and how they're doomed to fail." he replied with a devious smirk.

"If that's true then why did you decided to work with him?" she asked.

"I thought it would be interesting and I always demand to be paid upfront so it doesn't really matter if his plans fail. And you being here was a pleasant surprise that is sure to make it even more exciting than it was already going to be." he answered.

"How do you know that his plans will fail?" she asked him hoping to figure out who filled him in on this.

"A very reliable source told me, that's honestly all I can tell you. So how about we go and get something to eat?" he suggested while trying to get up but was forced back down by the woman on top of him.

"After we lay here for a few more minutes." she said before once again closing her eyes. Enjoying the heat rolling off of him and that weird sensation that came along with it, that she could only compare to the few times in her life when she wasn't on high alert for someone trying to kill her. She could only guess that this was what someone felt like when they were being protected by someone that they knew could defend them from any harm.

 **A few hours later:**

After lying in bed together for almost a full hour they both got dressed and ate an early breakfast since they both called it an early night last night. And just as they got done Ikaruga's team showed up and were introduced to Natsu, who instantly wasn't liked by the two men since he slept in her room last night and seemed to have caught her eye after the first time they met. Something that her teammates weren't happy with since it looked like Natsu could possibly ruin their team which happened to be the best that Death's Head Caucus had.

But after a few glares from both of the pink haired duo Fukuro and Vidaldus decided it was already out of their hands. And after hearing about how he was capable of fending off Ikaruga and even killed a Wizard Saint they knew they didn't really stand a chance against him and left the two alone. That was when she decided to give Natsu the grand tour of the tower as they made their way to the top where Jellal was going to be waiting for them. It was indeed an impressive tower that had pretty much everything a person could want and a whole lot more.

But a few levels down from the top they ran into a group of four coming down from a meeting with Jellal. The group consisted of a tan blonde haired man that overall looked pretty normal which couldn't be said about the rest of the group. That one of their members was a huge man wearing a turban and eye patch with a weird metal jaw on his head even though his normal one was completely fine. The only female member of the group would have looked normal if she didn't have her hair styled into cat ears, clearly showing that she loved cat probably more than anyone ever really should. And the final member of the group was a man dark purple suit, but what made him the weirdest of the group was that he was completely composed of boxes.

"This is Jellal's first line of defense for the tower." stated Ikaruga with a smirk that caused the other group to glare at her.

"I have no idea why Jellal hired a group like you." stated the blonde as he continued to glare at her. Natsu couldn't help but feel as if the large man with the turban kept looking at him as if he didn't believe that he was there, which made him instantly suspicious of him since he's positive that he's never met him before.

"Sho calm down, I'm Simon and this here is Wally and Millianna." said the man in the turban as he introduced the rest of his group.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all, I'm Natsu Dragneel." replied Natsu and was then surprised to see a look of shock go over most of their faces.

"The mage from Fairy Tail?" asked Millianna with a slightly scared expression.

"What in the world is one of them already doing here?" asked Sho as he pulled out some cards, ready to launch them at Natsu if he came at them.

"Easy there guys, how long has it been since you left this tower?' he asked while having a stern look on his face.

"It's been a few months, but why does that matter?" asked Wally as he adjusted his hat.

"Then that explains why none of you know that I got kicked out of that guild and did a few other things that people seem to like talking about." he answered now having a slight smirk.

"Why did you get kicked out of Fairy Tail and what did you do that everyone is talking about?" asked Simon, who was counting on Natsu being on their side of things when everything went down. So finding him here right now with Ikaruga definitely didn't make him feel any better about the likely hood of his plan actually working.

"I completed an S-Class quest without permission." he replied while stepping around them with Ikaruga.

"You got kicked out for that?" asked Sho with an incredulous look on his face.

"Yep, and right after that I got blacklisted from all the other legal guilds so it was just me and my best friend trying to make it on our own. But an asshole thought it would be a good idea to alert a few dark guilds about my expulsion so they could gang up on me and try to take me down." he said after coming to a stop with his back to them.

"How many went after you?" asked Millianna, since she wanted to learn more about the person that used to be at the same guild as Erza.

"I lost count after taking out more than seventy of them, and I am only still alive today because of my friend sacrificing himself for me. But don't worry I killed the people responsible for taking him away from me." he stated with his fists clenched as he was once again reminded of how weak he actually is.

"I'm sorry Salamander, and I can see why something like that would be talked about." stated Simon who couldn't help but feel sorry for him right now. And started to think that he needed to do a little more fact finding about what recently happened to him before he tries to get him to help stop Jellal.

"That's not what people are talking about anymore." he replied while once again starting to walk away from them.

"Then what are they talking about Salamander?" asked Wally.

"They're talking about how I killed that asshole who did all of that to me, you might have heard of him Jose Porla." he answered before heading up the stairs with Ikaruga.

"Who's Jose Porla?" asked Millianna with her head tilted to the left.

"One of the Wizard Saints." stated Simon with a completely blank look on his face. Because if Natsu actually opposed them and helped Jellal then their chances just got a whole lot smaller, but if he could get him to come over to their side then they definitely had a really good chance of succeeding.

"So he killed someone as strong as Jellal?" asked Sho now actually shaking in fear.

"Jose actually outranked Jellal." stated Wally who wasn't shaking but now had a really nervous expression and bad feeling about the pink haired man they just met.

"But he's on our side right?" asked Millianna as she looked to Simon.

"I sure hope so Millianna and since he's already here with her that is pretty much a guarantee." he replied with a fake smile, while thinking to himself that he sure hoped Natsu was still on the good side.

"Yeah Simon's right, and it seems like Erza is still fine with betraying her friends." stated Sho no longer shaking in fear, but now had an angry expression on his face as he thought of her. None of them noticed the slight frown Simon had at the mention of Erza and their anger being directed at her right now.

"Let's head out right away guys, there's a few things I want to check on before we reunite with her." said Simon as he took the lead with the rest of them following.

 **With Jellal:**

"So what do you think of my tower Natsu?" he asked as the two pink haired mages entered his throne room.

"Definitely not what I was expecting to wake up in but I've woken up in worse places." replied Natsu with a smirk as Jellal actually started to chuckle at his response.

"I don't doubt that my friend, but I'm afraid that we need to get straight to business since things have already been put into motion and now there's no way of stopping it." he said as he took a seat on his throne.

"Tell me exactly what you want me to do and I'll tell you how much that will cost you. Oh and I won't do anything other than what we decided right now so it would be smart to be very clear with your orders." stated Natsu as he leaned up against a pillar as Ikaruga decided to stand to his right side.

"Then this should be easier than I thought it would be, and is there a reason why you're still here Ikaruga?" replied Jellal as he gave the woman a slight glare.

"I think I should be informed of what Salamander is doing if we're to work together. Also I want to make sure that we aren't being ripped off because he happened to get lucky and kill a Wizard Saint." she replied with her usual smirk.

"Luck had nothing to do with it, Jose betrayed me so there was nothing that was going to stop me from ending him. Something that I hope the two of you don't try since it will only end the same way as it did for Jose." said Natsu now having his eyes closed as if he was in deep thought.

"I'd like to see you try Salamander." she declared while smirking at him, who still wasn't even looking at her.

"Enough and I can now see why it might be smart to have you know what's going on Ikaruga. So what I want you to do Natsu is prevent anyone other than Erza Scarlet from reaching me up here, and that also includes everyone else in this tower right now." he stated with a wicked smile as he studied Natsu's facial reactions to this. And he was once again surprised to see no reaction to this at all as the fire mage let out a little sigh after a few seconds only for a smirk to slowly make its way across his lips as he opened his eyes.

"Well this job just got way more interesting than I thought it would, since other mages of Fairy Tail are bound to follow her. And add in the fact that you think some of your own people are going to betray you and what you have right there is some entertaining fights heading my way." replied Natsu as his smirk only got bigger.

"Correct on all accounts Natsu, which is still shocking to me since until you left Fairy Tail you were known as an idiot across the country. But now it seems you can see most situations quite clearly which is something that is required for a mage to continue growing in his trade." he stated with an amused look.

"As I've said before Jellal, I finally see the world for what it truly is. And that's a place where only the strong survive, so how many people do you think will actually make it to me?" asked Natsu as he once again closed his eyes and lost his smirk.

"I would guess maybe three if you include Erza." said Jellal with pleasant smile.

"There's no way that three of them will make it pass my team." stated Ikaruga with a slight glare directed at Jellal.

"I hope you're correct Ikaruga, but Fairy Tail has a knack for defying the odds set against them. And if you couldn't tell by the conversation that I had with Natsu just now I need Erza Scarlet alive for my plans to work." he replied giving her a slight glare back.

"I was hoping to go up against the famous Titania." she said with a slight frown.

"Just because you can't kill her doesn't mean you can't fight her, and she's one of the few people at Fairy Tail that could possibly give you a challenge." stated Natsu with a grin.

"Natsu does have a point there Ikaruga, but she has to be able to come to me on her own." stated Jellal as he looked at a chessboard in front of his throne with a little smirk.

"Then she will be the only one that gets past me and my team." she stated with her smirk returning to her face as she mentally got ready for what she hoped would be a good duel tonight.

"How does two million jewels sound for a guarantee that no one other than Erza will reach this room of yours?" asked Natsu as he got up off of the pillar he was leaning on seconds ago.

"Sounds fair to me, and don't be concerned about killing anyone that tries to get past you." replied Jellal as he got out the jewels and handed them over to Natsu as if it was nothing.

"You couldn't stop me even if you wanted to, so when do I start doing this for you?" he asked while sending the jewels to his pocket dimension.

"I'll make an announcement through the tower's speakers about the game beginning, which will be the que for both of you to get to your positions." answered Jellal.

"Sounds good to me, well I'll be heading out unless there's anything else you want to tell me." he said while heading towards the stairs.

"You're not curious about what the rest of my plans are?" asked Jellal with an eyebrow raised since most people are curious enough to at least ask.

"Nope, don't care and since you didn't tell me it shouldn't affect me from doing what you paid me to do. And I know that you're not stupid enough to try and cross me Jellal, so why poke my nose where it doesn't belong." came the reply of Natsu before he went down the stairs.

"He's one of the strangest mages I've ever seen." stated Ikaruga as she looked at Jellal who looked completely shocked by Natsu's response.

"That he is, but something's off about him." said Jellal who was now growing suspicious of the dragon slayer that just seemed interested in his jewels. That was the main reason that he wanted to use him, that along with how much it would hurt Erza to see Natsu working for him. But the way Natsu acted it made it seem like he might already know everything about this place and what was going on here. Something that was impossible for the dragon slayer to know, so all Jellal could do now was make sure to keep an eye on him.

"Maybe he's just being professional, and considering how his last job ended you can't blame him for only wanting to know the bare minimum." she stated while heading to the stairs as well.

"Maybe, but you should keep an eye on him for me." he said and watched as she just gave him a wave of acknowledgement before disappearing from sight. He would have been worried about her as well, but since she was a member of Death's Head Caucus there was no chances of her not completing whatever job he gave her.

 **At Arkane Resort later that night:**

"Okay I'll come, just please don't hurt my friends." said Erza quietly with a sad expression.

"No, don't do it Erza!" shouted Lucy from her tied up position on the floor.

"Juvia doesn't want to lose her new friend either." said Juvia from inside of a card that she was trying to break out of with all of her might. But unfortunately was having no such success, which made her even angrier since this was almost exactly what happened to her with Natsu. And she made a promise to herself after she last talked with him that she was never going to let that happen to one of her friends again.

"It's very commendable that you stick up for her like that, but unfortunately it's of no use." stated Simon as he put magic suppressing cuffs on Erza's out stretched arms.

"Seems like you decided to keep your past from them Erza-chan." stated Sho with a little grin.

"That's none of your business Sho, and aren't you supposed to be taking me?" she asked back while not being able to look at any of them in the eyes due to the shame she felt.

"Very true, but it would seem that you can't help but betray those around since you've done it again." he replied with his grin growing ever so slightly.

"I've never betrayed anyone at Fairy Tail." she declared with a glare as she locked eyes with him for the first time. Needless to say, Sho was a little terrified by the look that she was giving him and was thankful that he waited until after the cuffs were on her before saying any of this.

"I think Salamander might have a different opinion on that Erza." said Wally as looked at her with a slightly angry expression that most of them had when looking at her.

"Wait, why are you talking about Natsu?" asked Erza with a slight trembling in her voice. Now starting to wonder if he indeed was part of this due to that little goodbye he left her with the last time they talked.

"Natsu-sama?" asked Juvia, only to intensify her attacks so that she could break out of there and go to him.

"Because he's the most recent person that we know you betrayed Erza-chan. I'm guessing that you and the rest of your guild doesn't see it that way since he broke a stupid rule that your guild has. But you'd be wrong about that, you all betrayed him by just sitting back and letting him go from the one place he thought he belonged and because of that his best friend died." said Millianna with a whole lot of venom in her voice. Erza and Lucy both became really quiet after she said that because they had both been starting to think that on their own, but the other female present had a few different thoughts on the matter.

"You don't know anything about Natsu-sama then; he would never consider either of them as betraying him for only following the rules of the guild. He's smart enough to know where the blame really belongs to, which is why Jose is dead." she declared while glaring at Sho who was now holding her card. Neither of them noticing how those few words from her really helped Erza and Lucy brighten up in this terrible situation.

"You're a feisty one." he replied with a chuckle.

"Juvia will show you how feisty once she breaks out of here!" she shouted as she went back to trying to break out.

"And how do you know all of that exactly?" asked Simon, only for her to not answer as she was too busy trying to escape.

"I think I might just tear your card in half and if you didn't know that would happen to you as well." said Sho as a wicked grin spread across his face as he got ready to do it.

"She's one of his few remaining friends, that's how she knows all of this!" shouted Erza, after seeing the look in his eye and knowing that he was about to do it. All of her old friends looked at her with a slight look of disbelief mainly since the few things that they learned about Natsu while on the mainland was that he didn't seem to even want friends after he lost his best friend.

"And you all know what he did the last time a friend of his was taken away from him." stated Lucy from the ground, who was happy to see a look of horror spread across all of their faces except for Simon's.

"Sho I think you shouldn't do that." stated Millianna who now looked like she just wanted to run away. Because along with learning about Natsu no longer being interested in making friends they also learned of how brutal he was to anyone who just said a few wrong words around him. After hearing that she could only imagine what hell he would put them through if they actually harmed or god forbid killed one of the few people he still considered his friend.

"I have to agree with her on this one Sho, the last thing we want is Salamander hunting us down because that would be anything but dandy." said Wally.

"Let's go, we've already stayed here long enough." declared Simon as he turned and left while Erza followed behind him. She looked over her shoulder at Lucy who was staring back at her and gave her one last smile before leaving the room with him.

"Don't worry, once I reach a certain distance you'll be back to good as new." said Sho as he carefully placed Juvia's card back on the ground as he then ran after the rest of his group.

"Juvia is a complete failure, she let it happen again." said the rain woman as she stopped trying to break free.

"What in the world are you talking about Juvia?" asked Lucy as she rolled over to her card.

"Juvia let another one of her friends be taken away from her." she replied while looking like she was about to cry. Thinking that Natsu might have left her because she wouldn't have been able to help him in anyway at all while they traveled across the country together liked she dreamed of doing with him.

"This is different than what happened to Natsu, because this time we can go and get her back." declared Lucy with a small smile.

"You're right, Juvia needs to stop thinking less of herself like Natsu-sama told her." she replied with a now determined look, that reminded Lucy of the last time she saw it which ended with her being captured in a matter of seconds. So seeing it now not directed at her while she wasn't an enemy of the rain woman made Lucy smile and know right then and there that bringing Juvia along was a really good idea.

"Great to hear, now we both just need to break free." stated Lucy as the two of them tried to break free.

 **Two hours later:**

"So that's what happened to us." explained Lucy to Gray who just rejoined them a few minutes ago and filled them in on what happened to him.

"Then it's obvious that we need to go after them, and this time none of us will be caught off guard." declared Gray as started to lead them out of the casino.

"Juvia wants to know if you even know where they took Erza?" she asked with a slight frown.

"Shit, in a situation like this Natsu would usually just follow his nose and we would follow him." he replied with an angry expression. Still clearly upset about the whole situation of Natsu's departure from the guild, not really knowing who he should be angry at exactly. So he's just been focusing that anger at his enemies which he just seemed to have gotten a lot of today.

"Gray, what's that you have on your necklace?" asked Lucy while pointing at a something wrapped around the chain of his necklace.

"No idea." he replied while carefully unraveling it, which revealed that it was a note.

 _"Dear friends of Erza_

 _If you want to get her back you need to come to these coordinates as fast as possible. Also once you're close you'll need to find a way to sneak in or you'll be blasted out of the water by the tower's defense system. I know you have no reason to trust me, but you're my only hope for saving Erza and possibly the rest of the world._

 _From a true friend of Erza's."_

"Well know we know where to go." stated Gray with a grin as he started to head towards the docks of the resort.

"Are you sure we should trust this stranger?" asked Lucy with a little apprehension in her voice.

"Don't really have any other option." he replied.

"Why did they leave it on your necklace?" asked Juvia who had been wondering about that for since he took the note off of it.

"Because whoever left it obviously knows about his weird habit of stripping." stated Lucy while she shook her head at how someone could even develop something like that.

"He strips?" asked Juvia with wide eyes as she then looked at Gray who was just in his boxers already. All Lucy could do was giggle at Juvia for finally realizing this about him and she also came to the conclusion that Natsu was indeed correct about Juvia fitting right in at Fairy Tail.

"No I don't, now let's go save Erza." declared Gray who was completely unaware that he was down to his boxers. As his two companions followed after him both picking up his clothes that were tossed to the ground just moments ago.

 **End of Chapter**

 **Author's Note:**

 **Thanks for reading and I really hope you enjoyed it. So yeah I decided to make the Tower of heaven a two chapter arc that could possibly turn into three depending how things turn out in the next chapter. Sometimes I start writing and don't even realize how much I'm doing and then bam I have more words than I would like to have in a normal chapter. Also I know that this chapter didn't have much action in it either, but you can't just have action even though that is what the next chapter is pretty much just going to be after I get past the beginning scene I have planned for it. Well that's all I got so don't hesitate to leave me a review or PM and I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible.**

 **Until the next Chapter**

 **Digem Out!**


	9. The Second Rebellion

Ch 9: The Second Rebellion

 **A cell in one of the lower levels of the tower:**

As soon as she woke up an instant sense of foreboding washed over her as she realized were she was. A place that still gave her nightmares despite it being eight years since she was last here, but that is to be expected after what she was put through while staying at this place. And to make things worse for her she wasn't in her armor like she usually was, making her feel completely defenseless as she made her way to a corner and pulled her legs up to her chest hoping that it would give her a little sense of security.

"Now this is something I never expected to see in my life, the mighty Titania cowering in a corner like a frightened little girl." stated Natsu in a slightly amused tone as he came out of the shadows and was now standing in front of her cell.

"Natsu?" asked Erza in disbelief. As her brain started to try and figure out exactly why he was in this god forsaken place and if this was why her old friends accused her of betraying him.

"Yes it is Erza, and I'm surprised that you let those four weaklings capture you." he stated as he leaned against the bars of the cell with his back now to her.

"I couldn't fight them because they were my friends when I was a prisoner here." she replied in just a whisper knowing that he could still easily hear her no matter how quietly she spoke.

"Oh I already know all about it and I'm actually surprised that you were able to keep such a huge secret like this from the guild. I mean you were always on everyone else about family always being there for each other when we needed it the most, yet you for some reason couldn't trust any of us with this." he said while running a hand through his hair.

"But then again it makes sense since you've always been pretty closed off from everyone at the guild since you were young. Oh and what the hell kind of friends are they if they knowingly captured you to take you back here and offer you up as a sacrifice for something that's not even going to work." he continued before she could even respond to what he first said to her.

"What, how in the world do you know all of that?" she asked him with a confused look while still remaining in the corner.

This caused Natsu to start chuckling to himself while still keeping his back to her. "Sorry Erza but you're going to have to be a little more specific than that since I kind of know a lot of things now thanks to a few new friends of mine." he said while still chuckling a little bit during it.

"Why are you actually here Natsu?" she decided to ask him since it was something that she needed to know.

"Definitely wasn't your original question but I have no reason to not answer it since we were once close friends. The reason that I'm here Erza is because Jellal hired me as some extra muscle since he has a strong feeling that your old friends will turn on him. A very safe bet since I would definitely turn on him after learning that he's been lying to me for the past eight years." he answered in a neutral tone signifying that he truly didn't care about it one way or another.

"How can you even work for him if you know what he's done?" asked Erza with a little venom in her voice.

"I think you're forgetting the little bit about me being black listed from all legal guilds across the country, so I kind of have to accept any job offer I get despite how I feel about the client. But if you want I guess I could join a dark guild and definitely not have a hard time finding a job like I am now." he responded with a light grin.

"I'm sorry about that Natsu and I definitely don't want you doing that, but you can obviously see why I wouldn't want you working for him either." she stated with a frown as a shiver went up her spine.

"Believe me Erza if I didn't have to work for that blue haired bastard I wouldn't. So do you have any more questions before I head off to get something to eat?" he asked while getting up off of the bars and looking at her.

"I do have a few." she replied while looking away from him.

"Then ask away Erza." he stated with a slight grin.

"Do you still consider me and everyone else at the guild your friends?" she asked dreading the response that she might get.

"Now that's a tricky one since you have the whole guild in your question." he replied while scratching his chin in thought. "I'd say that we're still friends, of course not as close as we once were but I would say that I still care about you which Jellal seemed to be very interested about. As for the whole guild I'd say no and before you say anything let me explain, there are quite a few members that I barely interacted with and couldn't care if they died right now." he said and watched a look of disbelief go over her face that replaced the smile she had when he said that he was still friends with her.

"You don't mean that Natsu." she stated hoping that he would say she's right.

"But I do Erza, and I am willing to bet that they would have the same feelings about me because like I said we didn't really spend that much time together. Now onto the members that I spent more time with I would definitely say that I still see them like friends but just like with you I know we're not as close as we used to be." he explained and she couldn't help but see where he's coming from.

"What about Juvia, Mira and Levy?" asked Erza knowing after learning more about what happened during the Phantom Lord incident that he threatened to end anyone who did anything to hurt either of the two Fairy Tail mages at the time.

"I would have to say that I consider them family which is what I am assuming you were hoping for when you asked me that pretty specific question. And if you're wonder I definitely wouldn't have a problem killing someone who hurt any of them more than what I thought they could handle since they all are mages and can take care of themselves." he replied while igniting his right hand on fire and letting his crimson flames dance around as he started to watch them as the two remained in silence for a few minutes.

"What about Master Makarov?" she asked, knowing that it would have been better not asking him that because of the growl that instantly escaped the dragon slayer at just hearing his name.

"He's literally dead to me Erza, which is the nicest way I can put it. Because honestly if we were ever forced to be in the same room alone together for more than a few minutes one of us would be dead by the end of it." he declared in a deep tone that she could actually feel the hatred coming off of him as he spoke as an awkward silence once again surrounded them.

"How do you know so much about this tower?" she asked right before he was about to leave since he thought she was done talking with him.

"You were this close to me leaving and probably not seeing you for a few hours." he said with a grin as he showed her a small gap between his fingers to illustrate how close he was. "So I can't go into specifics since the person that told me all of this needs to remain a mystery otherwise it could end very badly for them. But this person has known about this tower before you were banished from here and their intel is accurate which is also how I know Jellal's plan is doomed to fail for reasons he'd never suspect." answered Natsu with an amused smirk on his face.

"I assume that you won't tell me how you met this mysterious person?" she asked knowing what his answer would be.

"You'd be correct on that Erza and you know why." he replied.

"I figured as much and thanks for talking with me like this Natsu." she said which actually caught him off guard a little.

"No need for that Erza because like I said before you're somewhat still a friend of mine." he said while noticing for the umpteenth time since he has been there her shivering even though it wasn't the least bit cold in the cell thanks to the heat coming off of him.

"You should probably go before they start missing you." said Erza in a slightly sad tone but didn't want to possibly be responsible for Jellal turning on Natsu too.

"I can see when I'm not wanted, oh and you should definitely tell those idiots that an assassin's guild is here and they are not to be underestimated. And that goes double for the pink haired lady since she and I had a little run in a while ago and she was actually close to taking my head back then." he replied while turning away from her and going back to wherever he came from.

"That's not what I meant Natsu and what in the world are you talking about?" asked Erza as she stood up and went to the bars to look at his retreating figure.

"Whatever you say Erza, and Fairy Tail is quite predictable in my opinion when it comes to someone threatening a member. Now if I recall correctly the route behind me takes me to the lower levels where intruders would have to start at if they are trying to rescue a dear friend of theirs." he said as he stood there and then started to walk away after he was done talking.

"Natsu!" she shouted as she hit her cuffs against the bars and was completely thrown off when the door swung open. But the thing that shocked her even more was her cuffs falling to the ground with the locking mechanisms melted clean off. Seeing this she looked back up in complete disbelief planning to ask the dragon slayer what in the world was he thinking, but he was already gone. So with a faint smile se re-equipped into her usual armor and headed in the opposite direction as him since it was pretty obvious to her now what he was hinting at before.

"Are you sure that was a wise decision Natsu?" asked Ikaruga with a sultry smirk on her lips as he came up the stairs to where she was waiting for him.

"Considering that Jellal for some reason wants her to come to him on her own free will does it really matter. Besides I'm confident that one of her old friends would have accidentally let her out if I hadn't done it just now." he stated now having a smirk of his own.

"Should I be jealous right now?" she asked in a teasing tone as they started to go up the next flight of stairs together. That after they weren't even a quarter of the way up she decided to grab his hand and start holding it with a content smile making an appearance.

"For some reason I have a feeling that even if I told you that you should be you wouldn't be for some reason." he answered as they continued to traverse the stairs together while she couldn't help but let out a little giggle.

"That wasn't really an answer now was it Natsu." she said now leaning her head against him.

"No it wasn't, I'm fairly confident that you have nothing to be worried about with her on that side of things. Now if you're asking about in a fight then I would have to say don't let your guard down at all otherwise she will win." he said for her to stop and glare at him.

"I would never let my guard down with an opponent of her caliber." Ikaruga stated as she continued to glare at him.

"Normally you wouldn't but after you realize that you're better than her with a sword you might start getting bored and let your hubris get the better of you." he replied noticing her face starting to twitch in anger.

"I'm done talking with you Salamander." she said while letting go of him and continuing to walk farther up the stairs without him.

"You're only angry since you know I'm right." said Natsu with a little chuckle as he shook his head and followed after her.

 **With Fairy Tail's rescue team:**

"Wow that was easier than I expected." stated Gray as he helped Lucy out of the water.

"I don't even know what we would've done without you Juvia." said Lucy with a bright smile as she looked at the water mage and was shocked to see such a serious expression on her face.

"Juvia doesn't like the feeling of this place." replied Juvia as she scanned the room that they had just snuck into.

"Why are you saying something like that?" asked Lucy now slightly more nervous than she already was.

"There has been a lot of pain and suffering here, Juvia can feel it tainting her magic." she answered as she got into her fighting stance and started to stare at a certain door.

"I felt that too." stated Gray as he too got into his Ice-Make stance and looked at the same door as Juvia.

"Okay the two of you are just saying that to creep me out aren't you, and why do both of you look like you're ready to attack that door?" asked Lucy as the door burst open with guards flooding in.

 **"ICE-MAKE: LANCE!"** shouted Gray as he unleashed a fury of lances right at the charging guards.

 **"WATER SLICER!"** shouted Juvia as she sent out blades of water that easily doubled the amount of Gray's lances. With the might of both of their moves sent together at the regular guards there really wasn't much of a chance for any of them as they were sent flying and didn't get back up.

"Juvia expected them to be stronger than that." she stated with a slight frown.

"They were just the grunts, we know for a fact that those other four are not to be taken lightly." said Gray who was actually thinking the same thing as her but knew better than to start getting cocky after their first encounter.

"With you two we're guaranteed to rescue Erza." cheered Lucy with a bright smile that caused the other two to wonder if she was listening at all.

"We better start moving since we already have seemed to have lost the element of surprise." he said as he and Juvia took off towards the door that the guards had just came through a few seconds ago.

"Hey wait for me you two!" shouted Lucy as she chased after them. But that didn't even cause her two friends to slow down a bit since more guards were already heading their direction, and just like the last time Juvia and Gray easily handled them and did the same thing for the three waves that came after that.

"It seems like we have some uninvited visitors, I take it that you all know what I want done with them." came the voice of Jellal through the speakers that he had positioned throughout the tower.

"I take it that he's the man running the show." said Gray after dropping the last guard to the ground since he was rendered unconscious by him with his last attack. But he then jumped back as a wall erupted with a few guards flying through it and a figure now standing in the new hole added to the wall.

"Show yourself or Juvia will attack!" declared Juvia in a threatening tone as both she and Gray were ready to attack the unexpected intruder.

"Easy you two it's only me." stated Erza as she walked through the opening with a slight smile on her face.

"Erza!" cheered Lucy as she enveloped the knight in a hug since she was so happy to see that she was fine.

"Well that makes all of this easier than expected." said Gray with a neutral expression even though he was really relieved that she was fine as well.

"Juvia thinks that we should leave now while we still have the chance." she said with a smile since she didn't fail this time like she did with Natsu when he was taken away from her.

"Sorry but I can't leave, I only came down here to tell you guys to leave." replied Erza with a sad smile as she tried to turn away from them but a hand from a certain ice mage stopped her from accomplishing that.

"Like hell we're just going to leave you here Erza, you're a member of Fairy Tail which means we'll have your back no matter what." he said with the same determined look he had on Galuna Island when he told her that she would have to kill him to get him to stop back then.

"You don't understand how serious all of this is and why I have to do it alone." she said with her head down as she looked away from all of them.

"Then explain it to us Erza." said Lucy with a determined look in her eyes as well. Seeing this Erza knew that there was no chance of them just leaving her like she wished they would do. So after letting out a sigh she then proceeded to tell them about her past and why she couldn't let them stay here when she thought that all of this was her fault.

"Wow I had no idea Erza." replied Gray, now realizing that she definitely had a worse childhood than him by quite a lot.

"STOP LYING TO THEM!" yelled an angry Sho as he glared at Erza with a look of disgust.

"Sho I'm so sorry." apologized Erza not realizing that he was there and heard everything she just said.

"TELL THEM WHAT REALLY HAPPENED EZRA, TELL THEM HOW YOU BETRAYED ALL OF US HERE AND LEFT US TO DIE!" he shouted now with cards in his hands ready to throw them at her.

"Sho, everything Erza just said is true. Jellal has been lying to us this whole time." said Simon as he and the rest of his team appeared.

"That can't be true, if he was lying this whole time than why didn't you tell any of us?" asked Sho as he glared at his friend.

"It is and I have kept quite this whole time because I knew I wasn't strong enough to face Jellal. But now that Erza and her friends are here I believe we have a chance at stopping him before he activates this tower. Because if he does accomplish activating this tower than it could easily mean the end of the world as we know it." he explained in a sad tone.

"Millianna and Wally you aren't believing any of this are you?" asked Sho hoping that he wasn't the only one who was having trouble believing all of this.

"There was always something off about Jellal since that day and I just couldn't put my finger on it." stated Wally as he looked at Sho with a completely serious face.

"I always knew Erza-chan would never betray us!" cheered Millianna as she hugged Erza with all her might and shocking the other mages that she was able to get that close to Erza without them noticing her.

"But then that means everything we've been doing has all been for nothing." said Sho as he dropped to his knees and started to cry.

"It hasn't been for nothing Sho, you are all still alive which is definitely something." said Erza as she knelt down beside him and brought him into a tender hug that had him now crying into her shoulder.

"But I've been hating you for no good reason this whole time." he said between his sobs.

"And I've been hating myself this whole time since I wasn't strong enough to do anything about it." she replied as the speakers came on once again.

"Well this happened sooner than I was expecting it to but I guess that's what happens when you have a plan. But as with all plans it's smart to have contingencies in place for events such as a few of your pawns turning against you." said Jellal in an amused tone that let all of them know that he had a huge grin on his face at the moment.

"Who the hell are you calling pawns?" shouted Wally as he glared at the speaker.

"As some of you already know I've hired some outside help to deal with all of you so let the games begin." finished Jellal laughing while he turned the speakers off so the last thing they heard was his crazed laughter.

"Does he honestly see all of this as a game?" asked Gray with a really upset look.

"He definitely does, ever since that day he's thought of everything like it was some sort of sick game." replied Simon with a frown.

"I take it you guys know who he hired to stop us." stated Lucy as she looked at the four new mages that seemed like they were going to help them now.

"Yes we do and unfortunately they are all extremely strong in their own right and have no problems in ending someone's life since that's their job." he responded, wishing that there was some other way of doing this without possibly bringing more people into their mess.

"Are they from a dark guild?" asked Juvia wanting to know what they were going to be facing soon.

"That doesn't matter since all of you should leave while you still have the chance." stated Erza with a stern look as she got back up and looked at each and every one of them.

"Sorry Erza but that's not going to happen since even your old friends think you'll need our help. And considering that he's been with this Jellal bastard for the last eight years I'm inclined to believe he knows what he's talking about." replied Gray not even flinching at the glare she was giving him at the moment.

"Gray you don…" she started to say but was cut off.

"Erza we're not going to back down on this, we're going to help you whether you want us to or not." stated Lucy also having a determined look like everyone else now had as well, causing Erza to have to hold back the tears of joy that she had right now.

"Okay." she mumbled back with a slight smile.

"Now back to whomever we're going to be dealing with and yes they are from a dark guild that specializes in assassinations. You might have heard of them, Death's Head Caucus." said Simon with a frown as shocked looks came over the faces of the new mages to the tower except for Lucy.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." said Gray hoping that Simon was making a very bad joke.

"I've never heard of them before." stated Lucy with a confused look on her face.

"They are the number one dark guild when it comes to having someone taken out and they've never failed a single assassination. But it gets worse because we happen to be up against their best team." said Simon, wishing that he knew what Natsu was up to since he still couldn't figure out what he was thinking.

"Not just that but he's here as well and I really don't want to go up against him." stated Wally as a look of complete terror came over him, Millianna and Sho.

"Who are you talking about now?" asked Gray, now wondering who could so easily scare the three of them.

"They're talking about Natsu." answered Erza with an emotionless expression.

"Natsu-sama!" said Juvia in a slightly shocked tone but just quite enough so that no one noticed her say it.

"How did you know that Erza-chan?" asked Millianna completely forgetting about how scared she was of the dragon slayer just a second ago.

"He's the reason I got out of my cell." she replied with a slight smile.

"Then that means he's on our side." stated Sho with a bright smile since their prospects of succeeding had increased greatly after hearing this.

"I wouldn't count on that." she said no longer having her smile on her face that now had a frown.

"But you just said that he helped you." pointed out Millianna now having a slightly confused look on her face that the rest of her team except Simon shared with her at the moment.

"He's being paid by Jellal to do something and will definitely do it even if that means he has to fight his friends." she explained knowing that everyone from Fairy Tail would understand.

"So it's just like what happened with Phantom Lord." stated Gray with a little sneer.

"Unfortunately it would seem so." she responded having the same anger that Gray did, angry that someone was once again trying to use Natsu against his old friends. And it only made both of them angrier that Natsu seemed to be okay with it but that could also be due to the fact that he had very little choice since he wasn't able to find any other work.

"But he eventually ended up saving the day during that whole thing." pointed out Lucy with a smile.

"That only happened because he found out that Happy's death was caused due to what Jose did." she replied having thought through all of this before and coming to the conclusion that they definitely couldn't count on something like that happening again. Now all the members of Fairy Tail had slight frowns since they knew how much Happy meant to Natsu and that he was never going to be the same because of that.

"We'll have to see what Salamander does once we run into him but I think we should definitely start moving." said Wally as he unloaded on a group of guards that rushed in through one of the doors. Snapping the rest of their new group out of their current thoughts and realizing he was correct about that.

"Then where should be go?" asked Lucy.

"Up since that is where Jellal will be waiting for us at." answered Simon as he took the lead. Most of their thoughts consumed with prepping themselves for the upcoming battles that they were sure to face, all except for one of them who couldn't help but think about a pink haired dragon slayer that was kind to her when he had no reason to be.

 **An hour and a half later:**

"How many fucking floors does this tower have for crying out loud?" asked Gray as their group made it up another flight of stairs.

"We're almost to the top." stated Simon still in the lead.

"You said that ten floors ago." whined Lucy finding it hard to keep pace with the rest of the group.

"And all we've run into so far has been just more of those weak soldiers." pointed out Juvia finding it very strange that they have yet to run into any of those assassins yet.

"They're probably trying to tire us out first before they attack, it's what I would do if I was in their position." replied Erza who was up front with Simon. As the group exited the stairwell and where now looking in surprise at the room in front of them that the residents of the tower have never seen before.

"What in the world happened to the old floor?" asked Millianna as she looked at the three different paths set out before them.

"I would assume that this is Jellal's way of mixing things up and getting us to separate." replied Simon as he inspected the three different choices that lay before them.

"If that's what he's wanting us to do then shouldn't we do the exact opposite and stick together." suggested Lucy with a hopeful look.

"That would be the correct decision if you weren't all on a very strict time schedule." echoed the voice of Jellal once again through the speakers. But this time it caused Lucy and Millianna to let out scared screams since it would seem that he could even hear them this whole time.

"What is he talking about Simon?" asked Erza with an angry expression flaring up since she could still tell that Jellal was treating all of this as a game.

"I honestly have no idea what he's talking about." stated Simon with a surprised expression on his face.

"It's true Erza, in fact no one in this tower knows that within the next hour the Council will most likely be firing Etherion to stop me from activating the R-system. But there is still a chance those old fools will be too scared to actually use it which would mean it's all up to your little group to stop me if that happens." he said with while chuckling every now and then.

"Are you fucking insane?" shouted Gray as he glared at the speaker in their current room.

"Far from it Gray Fullbuster, I just merely like it when the stakes are high. And you'd have to agree that right now the stakes are as high as they can be since this is a life or death situation for everyone here. Now the real big question is, are any of you going to turn around now and try to save yourself?" asked Jellal once again breaking out into laughter at the end and it finally ending in silence.

"Shit, I knew he didn't give a rat's ass about our lives but how can he not care about his own life either?" asked Gray as he looked at their group knowing that a few of them were wondering if they should leave while they still had the chance.

"It just shows how crazy he actually is." stated Simon as he stood in front of one of the paths with a determined look as he stared down it.

"I can't believe we followed that crazy bastard for this long." said Wally as he came up to the right side of Simon having his own determined expression.

"I need to find Natsu-sama." said Juvia as she took a different path that she stood in front of by herself.

"And I'm not going to let you go alone." stated Lucy as she joined Juvia with a smile.

"I've already stated that I intend to finally put a stop to Jellal." declared Erza as she went to the final path with no one in front of it.

"I need to make him pay for what he did to all of us." said Sho as he chose to go up next to Erza.

"I'm not going to be the only one to run." stated Millianna as she went and joined Juvia and Lucy. "We'll show them what girls can do!" she cheered before grabbing one hand of each of them and took off down the path.

"She seems pretty excited and there is no way in hell I'm going to turn back now." said Gray with a smirk.

"Then it would probably be for the best if you went with Simon and Wally if you're okay with that Gray." suggested Erza since the other group was already gone.

"I've got no problem with that at all." he said as he was already walking down the path that the two chose as theirs.

"You've got some very impressive friends Erza." stated Simon as he smiled at her.

"I always have, and now I need to stop one of them from doing something really bad." she replied as she then turned away from him and headed down her own path with Sho following behind her.

 **Less than an hour later with the group of girls:**

"I think I'm going to rest for a little bit you two." said Lucy as she laid there with a content smile on her face. Happy that she was actually able to help out rather than being on the sideline like she pretty much had been up till this point.

"Are you sure Lucy-san?" asked Juvia with a slightly ashamed expression on her face, angry that the man knocked out before her had taken control of her so easily.

"Don't worry Juvia I'll stay here and protect her." said Millianna with a bright smile that she had on to hide the disappointment that she had. Because just like Juvia she too was easily controlled by their enemy and started to attack Lucy and was disgusted with herself since she got some slight enjoyment every time the celestial mage let out a pain filled scream of agony.

"I'll be fine you two I just need a little rest is all." she replied with a tired smile which still was completely genuine.

"Lucy-san I'm so…" started Juvia.

"That's enough with the apologies Juvia; I know that the two of you weren't in control back then so no hard feelings. Also I won so you really shouldn't be so tough on yourself since nothing bad happened and I've only got a few bruises." she said in happy tone, clearly still high on her victory against three people while she was all by herself.

"We'll be waiting for you then Lucy and you better not take too long." replied Millianna as she started to pull a slightly reluctant Juvia.

"I'll be there as soon as I can." she replied while finally feeling the pain coming back, but chose to bear with it until they were far enough to not hear her gasp out in pain.

"Don't worry Juvia she'll be fine and will probably catch up to us in just a few minutes." said Millianna with a bright smile hoping to get Juvia focusing on the upcoming battles that she was sure they would need her for.

 **With the guys group:**

"I can't believe that you actually thought it would be a good idea to take away the lights when he is a half owl for crying out loud!" shouted Wally as he tried to clean the saliva and who knows what else off of himself that he got from almost being digested by their enemy.

"Sorry about that, it usually lets me get the upper hand in most situations." replied Simon who was a little beaten up right now.

"Enough chit chat you two because this guy was just a chump compared to Natsu if we actually have to face him. And you don't know how hard it is for me to say that, but ever since he left Fairy Tail he's gotten stronger than I thought even possible in such a short amount of time." stated Gray as he clutched a deep wound he had on his left side that he was forced to freeze otherwise he probably would have passed out from blood loss already.

"I've been kind of curious how Salamander turned into someone so ruthless when he used to be known as a reckless idiot that just wanted to have fun?" asked Simon, he had a really good idea of what happened. But he knew that hearing from Natsu's old guild mate was a way more reliable source than the rumors going around the country right now. One of the most common ones was he just snapped and is now the ruthless crimson fire mage willing to kill anyone that pushes him too far.

"I'd rather not talk about that right now." replied Gray with a frown.

"Are you sure that's really a wise decision if we might be going up against him? Because if half of the rumors being spread about him right now are true all it takes to set him off is just one small comment and he'll be okay with ripping off your limbs." asked Wally with a concerned look on his face.

"Fine but this will take a little while." he replied with a sigh as he started to tell them about Natsu stealing an S-Class job with Happy. Arguably it being the starting of him getting kicked out of the guild if you skipped the part where it was Laxus making fun of the whole guild that caused Natsu to do something that stupid.

 **With Erza and Sho:**

"What the hell is going on, it seems like we've been walking around in circles?" asked Sho in an exasperated voice.

"That's because we have been Sho." stated Erza with blank expression on her face as she continued to walk forward.

"If that's what is happening then why in the world are you still acting like it's normal?" asked Sho with an eyebrow cocked at her casual attitude and her already knowing this.

"Because whoever is doing it obviously is trying to keep us held back for some reason and there really isn't anything we can do about it." she replied as they surprisingly finally came to a room that had two other hallways leading to it and a stairways leading up in front of them.

"That was suspiciously well timed." stated Sho in a nervous tone as he started to scan for possible enemies.

"Like I said before we just had to wait for whoever it was to let us through." she said while heading up the stairs with him hurriedly following after her not wanting to be left alone. They finally came to a room with a long bridge with water on both sides of it and having a Japanese style to everything in it.

"So you're the famous Titania?" asked Ikaruga from her position on the middle of the bridge as she eyed the woman with scarlet hair standing before her.

"Yes I am, now I suggest that you step aside so me and my friends can go and stop Jellal." said Erza realizing that this was the woman Natsu warned her about.

"If I wanted to let you through that wouldn't be a problem but everyone else definitely won't be making it farther than here." she replied with her usual slight smirk that a certain Dragon Slayer found quite sexy.

"You said that if you wanted to, does that mean you aren't going to let me pass?" asked Erza as she got ready for a fight to break out between the two of them.

"You'd be correct Erza Scarlet and I've wanted to cross blades with you for quite some time now. And my interest in you has only piqued since an old friend of yours spoke quite highly of your skills." she said only for her grin to grow slightly bigger as all of the cards Sho threw at her were cut in half all at the same time.

"Impossible I didn't even see her draw her sword." said Sho in disbelief.

"If you couldn't see me do that then there is no point in me wasting any of my time with you at all." she replied only for show to then fall to the ground screaming out in pain as a wide assortment of cuts formed on key points of his body. Mainly on his joints and other places that if attacked properly would cripple a person from fighting anytime soon.

"Sho!" screamed Erza as she knelt down beside him and started to inspect his wounds.

"If you thought he would be of any help you were sorely mistaken Titania and such mistakes like that can cost you dearly." taunted Ikaruga with her smirk still ever present.

"You'll pay for that!" screamed Erza as she looked up at her in pure hatred as she equipped her Purgatory Armor ready to end this bitch right away.

"Is that supposed to scare me?" asked Ikaruga in an amused tone.

"Those who have seen this armor don't get to live to tell the tale of it." she growled out only for her to stagger back.

"Then I guess that makes me the first now doesn't it, and who are you kidding Titania you haven't killed a person since you joined Fairy Tail." said Ikaruga as Erza's armor and weapon broke to little pieces to then come to a stop at her feet. She honestly couldn't believe that one of her strongest sets of armor was destroyed in the blink of an eye as if it was nothing.

"I take pride in the fact that I haven't had to kill anyone." she replied as she re-equipped into her Black Wing Armor.

"If that's the case then why did you make it sound like you've killed people with that other armor of yours?" asked Ikaruga with an eyebrow raised.

"Shut up!" shouted Erza as she took to the air.

"Won't work." stated Ikaruga who with a few quick slashes brought Erza crashing back down to the bridge.

"Let's see how you handle my strongest armor." she shouted out in anger as she re-equipped into her Adamantine Armor easily her strongest defensive armor. Now with a smug grin she closed the shield and started to advance on the other swordswoman.

"That won't work either, maybe he was just pulling my leg about watching out for you." replied Ikaruga as she once again destroyed Erza's armor again but decided to land a few attacks on her as well. Causing the scarlet knight to scream out in pain as she was launched back to where Sho could only helplessly watch her get so easily manhandled by the other swordswoman.

"Erza she's too strong." mumbled Sho in a helpless tone, ashamed that he was taken out without even hitting his opponent once.

"Like hell she is!" growled out Erza as she re-equipped into her Heaven's Wheel Armor and instantly started to launch countless blades at the woman still smirking at her. After doing this for a full minute she let up and was then instantly launched back again with her armor being once again destroyed like it was nothing.

"I'll have to admit that I'm impressed that you realized you might need to use a different strategy to take me on. But if you have nothing else to follow up such an assault with then it was completely pointless to do in the first place." replied Ikaruga as the dust settled and there were swords scattered everywhere around her but other than that she was exactly the same as before.

"Why are you even here, didn't you hear about the Council most likely firing Etherion at us?" asked Erza, hoping to buy herself some time to come up with a different strategy.

"I guess we have a few minutes before your friends get here so why not have a little chat since you've been boring me so far." she replied with her smirk getting a little bigger as she could see Erza fighting the urge to charge her right then and there.

"The reason that I'm not running is because I was paid to do a job and Death Head's Caucus doesn't tolerate failure. So if I ran it would be only to the death at the hands of my former guild mates." she explained while enjoying the look of horror Erza now had on her face at hearing this.

"You've got to be kidding me." stated Erza in disbelief.

"I'm surprised you're finding it so hard to believe since Salamander seemed to understand why my guild is like that and wasn't he supposed to be the stupid one from your guild?" she asked once again enjoying the look Erza was giving her right now.

"I understand it completely I'm just amazed that a place like that still actually exists. And what is your business with Natsu since he warned me about you?" asked Erza.

"He warned me about you as well and am I detecting a little jealousy from you Titania?" asked back Ikaruga in a slightly amused tone.

"Absolutely not, I'm just concerned about him being friends with someone like you." she spat back now finally having a strategy that seemed like it might actually work. If she could have she would have berated herself for not thinking of it sooner since it was so simple but dealing with said woman came first.

"Well that's odd considering that the best way to do that would be to not kick him out of your guild." stated Ikaruga as she could tell the rest of Erza's group was just a few minutes away from bursting in.

"That wasn't my decision otherwise he never would have been kicked out." she growled out while re-equipping her Flight Armor and having a sword in each hand now.

"It doesn't matter since what's done is done and I should actually thank you since I don't know if I would have met him otherwise." replied Ikaruga with a slight blush that Erza saw and completely stopped her in her tracks because it seemed like it was impossible thing to happen to the woman in front of her.

"D-d-don't tell me you actually like him?" asked Erza no longer rushing her opponent.

"And if I did Titania?" she asked back with her usual smirk.

"I would be a little surprised is all I guess." replied Erza who was still completely caught off guard by all of this.

"And why would that be since he's one of the strongest men I've actually met and at this point in our battle I could see that if he really wanted to he could have killed me. He's also quite handsome which I'm sure you've noticed since he was in your guild after all, and now that he's no longer a goody too shoes like he was when he was a member at your guild he meets all the requirements of my ideal man." she stated with some slight amusement that Erza was the one getting embarrassed by the conversation and not her.

"I don't know what you're talking about and that is not a very long list for an ideal man." said Erza finally getting back to her usual stoic self.

"I've of course left a few things off but even with the few things that I said to you most men are eliminated. So now I have to ask you are we going to keep having this little girl talk or are you going to come at me like I thought you were going to a bit ago?" asked Ikaruga as she then had to start actually blocking attacks being sent her way by Erza.

"Does this answer your question?" she asked while she kept using her enhanced speed to keep just out of Ikaruga's attacks.

"This is more like it Titania, why didn't you start with this?" asked Ikaruga as she started to laugh from the thrill of actually having a duel with someone else. And they kept this up until the other two teams showed up and just stood back since they could barely keep up with the two swordswoman fighting it out on the middle of the bridge.

"Should we help her?" asked Wally as he lined up a shot at Ikaruga only for Simon to get in front of him.

"Are you crazy, you are just as likely to hit Erza as you are to hit Ikaruga." he said while giving him a slight glare.

"Actually you are definitely more likely to hit Erza since she's in between us and that other woman. And where is Lucy by the way Juvia?" asked Gray as he looked at the water mage that was intently watching the fight in front of her.

"She's just taking a little rest after our last fight which was really hard on her." she replied as she went back to watching the two swordswoman until they finally separated.

"Considering that time is running down you're free to pass Titania since I've had my fun with you. But the rest of you aren't going to be that lucky since Jellal told me that she was the only one to let pass." said Ikaruga once again having her usual smirk.

"There is no way I'm going to just leave you with the rest of my friends." stated Erza as she glared at the pink haired lady.

"So be it Titania if you think you have enough time to stay here any longer. Because according to my count you have less than ten minutes to stop him and you have still yet to even face Salamander yet and who knows how long he'll hold you up." she replied with a look of boredom now on her face as Erza now had a conflicted look on hers.

"Go Erza we'll just be a few seconds behind you." said Simon with a stern look as he looked at Ikaruga.

"Fine but be careful she's stronger than she looks. And if you can't get past her within the next five minutes you should all probably run and get as far away from here as you can." said Erza before sprinting past Ikaruga and up the flight of stairs that were located behind her.

"So you all think you can actually stop Jellal?" asked Ikaruga as she looked at all of them and could see that most of the guys were already injured while the two girls seemed fine but were completely missing one of them.

"We have to try." said Millianna as she glared at the woman responsible for hurting Sho so severely.

"Easy everyone, if Erza was having such a hard time with her then she's definitely not to be taken lightly." stated Gray as he felt as if he did one misstep it might literally be the last one he makes.

"She was by herself when she faced her." replied Wally as one of his arms formed into a gun and he unloaded with a confident grin. "See she wasn't that hard since no one is fast enough to dodge a bullet." he stated only for a certain voice to start speaking and cause him to regret his initial assumption about his opponent.

"I'm ashamed that you think so little of me Wally." stated Ikaruga still standing in the same spot as if nothing happened to her except for a few bullets now laying at her feet. And if any of them could have looked closer they would have noticed that they were all cut straight down the middle.

 **"DARK MOMENT!"** shouted Simon as all the lights went out. "Pitiful, did you honestly expect that to work on the leader of Trinity Raven?" she asked only for the rest to hear Simon scream out in pain. But his screams where soon accompanied by Wally and Millianna's as well.

 **"ICE-MAKE: SHEILD!"** shouted Gray only for the sound of cracking to ring out as he was launched back and as the lights came back on.

"It would seem that your little move did more harm than good Simon." stated Ikaruga with an amused look in her eyes as she smirked at all of them until her eyes landed on Juvia who was glaring at her.

"What's your relation to Juvia's Natsu-sama?" she asked while still glaring at her.

"Your Natsu-sama and how were you not affected by my attack?" asked back Ikaruga, who knew her attack landed but couldn't figure out how she was completely fine.

"Yes, he's Juvia's Natsu-sama and won't let anything bad happen to him. Now tell Juvia what kind of relationship you have with him or she'll have to beat it out of you." she declared as the water on both sides of the bridge started to bubble.

 **"ICE-MAKE: LANCE!"** shouted Gray as his icy projectiles catapulted at the swordswoman only to be easily sliced in half.

"Seems like I need to give you a few more cuts." stated Ikaruga with a smirk. As she took a step forward and then rolled backwards as a wave of water swept right through the spot that she used to be standing at.

"You will not hurt any more of Juvia's friends and you will also tell Juvia how you know her Natsu-sama." stated Juvia now standing in the spot that the wave just washed over.

"So you're a water mage that is obviously in love with Salamander who is a fire mage. Very interesting, but as they say opposites do attract to each other and I couldn't think of a better example than this right now." she replied knowing that it was only going to get the water mage angrier since she still wasn't answering her question.

 **"WATER SLICER!"** shouted Juvia as she sent a storm of water blades at the smirking swordswoman in front of her.

 **With Erza:**

The next level was completely dark when she first stepped into it but after a few steps inside red flames started to spring up and formed a nicely lit pathway for her to follow. She took notice that the stones were pitch black and had a slight glow to them thanks to the red flames that only allowed her to see ten feet in front of her. After walking straight for a little while the figure of someone sitting on the ground could just be made out in the distance.

"Seems like you both heeded my warnings." said the figure with its back still to her. But she would never mistake that voice even if he was apparently doing something so out of character like he was currently doing at the moment.

"Since when do you meditate Natsu?" asked Erza as she cautiously came closer to him.

"I'm not going to stop you from proceeding forward Erza and I'm also not interested in fighting you for the fun of it either. As for when I started to meditate, that actually kind of just happened while I was in jail for those two weeks since there wasn't really much else for me to do. And I've continued to do it since then because it helps clear my head." he replied as she continued to slowly make her way towards him.

"You've changed a lot Natsu." she said with a faint smile as she noticed he wasn't wearing his jacket but unlike the last time she saw him like this she wasn't fighting for her life and could take notice of what he was wearing underneath. She was shocked that he had a shirt underneath a vest that was similar to his old one, and she couldn't help but frown when she noticed the green armband that Lucy eventually told the rest of the guild about its significance to him.

But what really shocked her most of all was that on his left shoulder where she had her Fairy Tail guild mark he now had a tattoo that she had never seen before. It was the skull of a dragon with flames behind it and she didn't know how she knew this but she could tell that it was still a work in progress even if it looked completed at the moment, and it somehow added to the intimidating presence he now had about him.

"I'm sure it's not all for the better if you were to ask around but that's just how life is I guess." he replied while still having his eyes closed and in his meditating position.

"I wish I could deny that but it would be a lie since you know I'm not a fan of you killing people." she stated with a slight frown again.

"You do know that I'm not just going around randomly killing people don't you?" he asked while opening one eye to look at her.

"Of course I know that despite what the rumors going around about you say. So why are you still even here?" she asked wondering if he was planning on joining them in taking down Jellal or if he had given up which she really doubted but after what had happened to him it wouldn't have been the craziest thing to learn.

"Doing a job of course and now thinking about what I'm going to do afterwards." he replied with his usual grin as she looked at him like he was crazy.

"Are you serious Natsu, the Council is planning on firing Etherion in a few minutes and if they don't then Jellal might succeed with his plans!" she shouted at him and had the urge to start hitting him. And the only reason she didn't was due to her instincts telling her that would end very badly for her.

"Calm down Erza didn't I tell you that he'd fail." he replied while closing his eyes again.

"I know you've said that but I won't believe it until I see it with my own two eyes." she stated with a slight glare sent his way.

"Then go and confront him like he wants you to but I have a feeling that it won't end well for you if you do. Also don't you find it odd that he's only just letting you reach him when we both know that he plans to sacrifice you like the crazy bastard that he is?" asked Natsu as Erza started to leave.

"Yes it is but one way or another this is coming to an end today." she declared before heading in the direction of the stairs that were going to take her to Jellal.

"All you had to do was leave Erza and his plan would come crumbling down. But no you have to go and do exactly what he wants you to do and come rushing to him." he said while shaking his head back and forth. He was about to go back to meditating until he felt one of his pockets vibrate signaling that someone was trying to call him.

"It's about time you called me." he said with a smirk as he looked at who was calling him.

 **End of Chapter**

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Thanks for reading and I hope you liked it and are excited for the next chapter. So it would seem that the Tower of Heaven Arc will be wrapped up in the next chapter like I said might happen. Now I'm wondering how much do you guys want to see of the three battles that are staged to take place in the next chapter, because as of right now I'll probably skip the battle between Erza and Jellal since it will pretty much play out like it did in canon. And the other two I hope to make entertaining but probably not too long since that can be boring in my opinion. Well as you all probably know I appreciate it if you are kind enough to leave a review or pm and that I'll try to reply as soon as I can.**

 **Also a quick heads up on something that I'm going to do which will hopefully allow me to update these stories quicker, something that a few of you have been asking for, if you'd like to find out what I'm planning on doing check out my profile since I don't want to waste any more of your time than I already have with this sentence here at the end.**

 **Until the next Chapter**

 **Digem Out!**


	10. When It All Comes Crashing Down

Ch 10: When It All Comes Crashing Down

 **A few minutes later:**

"You don't need to worry, you can consider it as good as done." stated Natsu with a crazed grin now coming across his face.

"Are you sure, I don't think I'll be able to stop them from using it." came the voice from the communication lacrima that was in Natsu's hand.

"I've already told you that it honestly doesn't matter to me and that I'll be bringing you back his head within the next few days depending on how long it takes for me to walk there from here." he replied as he got up and started to do a few little stretches.

"For the last time I don't want you to kill him unless there isn't any other way." shouted the voice making Natsu plug one of his ears and glare that the device.

"Geez you don't need to yell old timer I'm not going deaf, for now at least." he stated in an irritated tone as he hung up the call since he honestly didn't need to hear any more for him to finally get involved in this little fiasco taking place around him.

So with a his crazed grin once again coming back to his face he picked up his coat and stopped to get a good sense of what was currently happening on the floors above and below him at the moment. Frankly he was actually impressed with how well she was doing above him but that was still with him not being able to go at full power since he was still wrapping things up with the Council. As for the level below him he was frankly a little surprised with how that one looked to be playing out, but after considering the two opponents it was pretty obvious which one was going to win.

"I should probably head down there first and make sure they get out of here in case I royally screw this up." he said to himself with a little chuckle since he really doubted that something like that was going to happen.

 **With Juvia and the rest of her group:**

"I do have to admit that you being able to turn your body into water is quite the nifty trick when facing someone like me who mainly uses physical attacks." said Ikaruga as she dodged Juvia's Water Cane that cracked a few of the boards on the bridge.

"Juvia wasn't a member of Phantom's Element Four for nothing." replied Juvia with a look of annoyance on her face since neither of them had been able to land any good attacks on each other. There were a few times when she thought her attack was about to hit the swordswoman only to be extremely disappointed when the attack was cut in half.

"I can clearly see that but what really intrigues me is why you're so instant on figuring out my relationship to Salamander." she said with her usual smirk while trying to come up with a new strategy for this water mage.

"Because Juvia and Natsu-sama are destined to be together and Juvia won't let anyone get in her way." answered Juvia as she glared at her, extremely pissed off about that constant smirk of hers.

"Does Salamander know this?" she asked and instantly saw Juvia's face become a little flustered.

"Y-yes of course Natsu-sama knows this." stuttered out Juvia not liking the look that Ikaruga was now giving her.

"Why has half of their conversation been about Salamander?" asked Sho now being just able to move slightly.

"Isn't it obvious?" asked Millianna with a bright smile only for the all of the guys to give her a blank look. "They both obviously love him and are now fighting for him." she explained after smacking herself in the face at their stupidity.

"I don't know if I should envy Salamander for that or if I should feel sorry that he clearly has two crazy chicks after him if Millianna is correct about this." said Wally as he noticed that the two had stopped fighting and were now once again talking about Natsu.

"I for one know that I don't envy him at all." stated Gray in a quiet voice since he really didn't want the two to realize that they were talking about them right now.

"He clearly doesn't since you got extremely nervous when giving that answer my dear." responded Ikaruga in an amused tone and almost laughed at the poor girl.

"Now that Juvia has answered your question you have to answer hers." she stated while glaring at the woman.

"You really do have a one tracked mind don't you Juvia? Well if you must know Salamander and I are just partners as of now but I do intend to make it a little more than that shortly. Because after sleeping with him last night I know that he's probably the only man that can actually make me feel that way ever again." replied Ikaruga with a confident grin spread across her red lips as Juvia had her head down.

"You're lying, Natsu-sama would never sleep with a woman like you." she said in a low voice that Ikaruga could barely hear.

"Oh but we did, granted it was just sleeping since you're probably assuming that we had sex. But don't think that's not because he didn't want to or anything, actually he almost took me in some random back ally." said Ikaruga with her grin only growing. Until she had to move her head to the side and watched as a few of her pink strands of hair fell to the ground thanks to the attack that was just a few centimeters away for taking her head off.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT LOVE RIVAL!" screamed Juvia as she sent blade after blade of water at the swordswoman. But this time sending them from all angles at her opponent because of the raw emotions she was feeling at the moment, which was mainly hatred.

The rest of them watched in shock as Juvia started to overpower Ikaruga and was actually starting to land a few attacks every once and a while. But due to her skill Ikaruga was just barely getting hit by them and was only getting slight cuts from the countless water blades flying at her.

"She lost it." stuttered Sho as he watched the two women ferociously going at it.

"I don't think she's handling the idea of Natsu being with a different woman than her very well." stated Gray with a slight smirk as he watched Juvia focus all of her rage and anger at the woman before her.

"I'm just glad she's on our side." said Millianna with a bright smile. Only to jump back when a shot went off and Ikaruga screamed out in pain as the shot tore through her calf. They all looked over at Wally in shock at him apparently joining back in on the fight.

"What the hell are you all looking at me like that for? If you couldn't tell Water Lady is running out of her magic fast and if we don't bring down Ikaruga now then we're all as good as dead." replied Wally only giving them a glance as he went back to taking shots at Ikaruga who was now remarkable dodging his attacks as well. Sometimes even using them to block an attack of Juvia that would have otherwise hit her, showing all of them how skilled she actually was.

 **"ICE-MAKE: ARROWS!"** shouted Gray as he too joined in on the untied attack against their deadly opponent.

"He does have a point." stated Sho as he started to throw a few cards in as well. Each time hissing out in pain because of his previous injuries that he sustained from her earlier but decided that he wasn't going to let that stop him from helping out.

"I should have finished you all off when I had the chance." hissed Ikaruga as she was actually being pushed back because of their constant assault on her.

"That probably would have been the smarter choice." said Simon as he stood back and watched the fight.

"Aren't you or the other girl going to join in? Because if you don't, I don't think you're friends are going to last much longer." she said while doing a hand spring that got her out of the way of the three guys attacks flying at her. But wasn't enough to get out of the way of Juvia's that was redirected at her, forcing Ikaruga to start hacking it apart piece by piece.

"Some of us need to save our magic in case we have to still face Salamander." he replied with a blank expression.

"There is no way that you'll be able to get past him." she laughed back at him.

 **"ICE-MAKE: FLOOR!"** shouted Gray as the whole bridge was then covered in a thick layer of ice as she was still in the air from dodging a few other attacks. Seeing this they all thought that it was now going to be their win easily but they were soon going to realize that you don't become the leader of Trinity Raven for nothing.

Because instead of having a concerned look on her face like they thought she would, Ikaruga actually once again have the same smirk that she had during almost all of the battle. Rather than landing on the floor and falling to the ground like most people would do in her position she stuck her sword into it. And with this new anchor she increased her momentum with a quick spin around it and launched herself at an un-expecting Juvia using the ice to her advantage.

The next second she was right in front of Simon with a murderous grin spread across her face as she was ready to end him. But to her shock something prevented her from going that last few inches she needed to finish him off, and when she looked back she was met with the sight of a struggling Millianna keeping her back with her stupid tubes. Tubes that Ikaruga knew were already preventing her from using her magic to enhance her sword and overall fighting abilities.

"Looks like your luck has finally run out Lady." said Wally as he shot the sword out of her hand and causing her to scream out in pain.

"This is for what you did earlier!" shouted Sho as he threw two handfuls of cards that she couldn't dodge this time getting her to scream out in pain again.

"Shit why aren't you going down, **ICE-MAKE: LANCE!"** shouted Gray who honestly didn't want to attack the now defenseless lady but knew he had to because of how deadly she was.

 **"WATER NEBULA!"** shouted Juvia as two waves of water blasted up from underneath Ikaruga knocking her out of Millianna's binding and into the air. Where the two streams of water continued to crash into the pink haired swordswoman as they spun her around as she let out a final scream of pain before she came crashing back down to the ground. Clearly no longer being able to get back up, much less being able to start fighting with them again.

"Is she done?" asked a now panting Millianna, who wasn't ready to have to stop Ikaruga from using so much magic even after all of the fighting she had already done.

"God I sure hope so since I was pretty much spent after that first owl guy." stated Gray as he froze a few more of his new wounds that needed to be sealed.

"I'm not going to take any chances." replied Wally as he started to walk over to her with a slight limp.

"Wally what are you doing?" asked Simon with a good idea of what he was about to do.

"Finishing it." he replied as his arm once again turned back into a gun as he pointed it at her forehead. But before he could pull the trigger he noticed and was surprised to see not a single ounce of fear in her eyes and all he could see was what he could only describe as complete acceptance of her fate.

"Wally don't do it!" begged Millianna who was done with the pointless killing that seemed to come with this tower.

"I have to Millianna." he replied only to collapse to his knee because of an overwhelming magic pressure flaring up to only disappear the next second.

"You do that then there is nothing that will stop me from slowly burning you until there is absolutely nothing left of you." said Natsu as he slowly started to walk towards them, instantly getting rid of all the ice around him and actually causing the water to start bubbling.

"Salamander!" he stated in shock as he instantly pulled away from Ikaruga.

"Natsu-sama?" asked Juvia as she barely could stay awake thanks to magic exhaustion that she was now suffering from.

"Hello again Juvia, you were quite impressive today." said Natsu now with a slight smile.

"Thank you Natsu-sama." she replied back tiredly, clearly fighting off passing out right now just so she could be with him.

"Just stating the truth and it looks like you could really use some rest right now." he stated as he caught her when she staggered a little bit.

"But Juvia just wanted to see you Natsu-sama." she stated with a weak smile.

"You did that Juvia so now you need to get some sleep." he said as he gently got her to lay down and she pretty much instantly passed out with a content smile spread across her lips as she dreamed about her future with a certain pink haired man.

"What are you doing Salamander?" asked Simon as he cautiously looked at the fire mage with a skeptical look in his eyes.

"Oh you know, just getting it so I don't have to go on another murdering rampage." he replied now heading over to the beaten Ikaruga.

"Why did you stop him Natsu?" asked Ikaruga with a slightly hurt and questioning expression on her face as she looked up at him.

"Obviously because I didn't want you to die idiot." he answered while rolling his eyes at her as he knelt down next to her.

 **"DARK MOMENT!"** shouted Simon as the lights all went out.

"Chose your next move wisely Simon because if you chose incorrectly then you and the rest of your friends are as good as dead." came the voice of Natsu from right behind him. This caused Simon to have a new reason to fear the man right behind him, as he stood there too shocked to even move.

"If you planned to go and try to help Erza you're all free to but I would highly advise against it." he whispered before somehow going back to his spot next to Ikaruga the very next second as if he had never left her side. Simon could only attribute all of this to the dragon slayer's enhanced senses, because otherwise he really shouldn't have been able to move so surefooted in the complete darkness like he did.

"Thanks Salamander." whispered Simon as he took off for the stairs to the next level and only getting rid of the darkness once he was gone.

"Where did Simon go?" asked Millianna now freaking out since she could only assume that it was because of Natsu.

"He decided to head up there to try and help Erza out. And before you all go rushing after him I want to advise you all against it." replied Natsu as he actually started to treat Ikaruga for her wounds. Causing said woman to glare at him with a slight blush but let him continue on with what he was doing.

"And why the hell wouldn't we do that Natsu?" asked Gray with a look of disbelief since Natsu just told them to not go and help Erza.

"Because you and I both know that all you guys would do is get in the way. So why don't you all do the smart thing here and get out of this place before the Council actually fires Etherion on us." he answered as he lit one of his hands with his crimson flames.

"Like hell we're going to do that." shouted Sho, whose eyes widened as Ikaruga let out a scream due to Natsu placing his hand that was on fire just above her right hip.

"What the fucking hell did you do that for?" she screamed at Natsu, and only got a little smirk from him before he got up and turned away from her.

"Okay, you're all free to go and help Erza but that means you have to go through me first. Oh and I won't hesitate to kill any of you right here and now because it's pretty much the same thing in my eyes as letting you go up there." he stated as he completely coated himself in his crimson flames that were causing his coat to billow from the sheer magic pressure coming off of him.

"He's right guys, we would only slow her down with how wounded we all are. So let's go and grab Lucy and get the hell out of here." said Gray with an upset look on his face since Natsu was indeed correct about all of it.

"Man I'm not looking forward to going down all of those stairs." said Sho as he staggered over to Juvia and started to pick her up with the help of Millianna.

"After we go and get Lucy I've got a quicker way down from this tower." said Gray as he walked over to Ikaruga, ignoring the glare that he was receiving from Natsu at the moment.

"What do you want?" asked Ikaruga as she glared at the ice mage.

"I'm coming to help you get out of here in case it all goes to hell." he replied.

"Touch me and you die, besides I'm already good as dead since I failed my job." she hissed at him while looking away from him. Gray was about to completely disregard her comment until Natsu spoke up in an angry tone that promised pain if disregarded.

"Don't you dare touch her if she doesn't want to be touched Gray." he said while his fire increased in intensity even more.

"Whatever, let's go." replied Gray in a shocked tone as he and the rest of his group headed down to the previous level to get Lucy.

"You really can't accept any help can you?" he asked with a slight smirk as his fire disappeared.

"You're one to talk, so why the hell did you save me and randomly decided to burn me right afterwards?" asked Ikaruga as she glared at him with a look that could almost kill.

"I already told you why I saved you and I burned you to mark you as mine." he answered with a huge grin as he took off his coat.

"What did you just say?" she asked with an irritated and angry expression coming over her face.

"I said that you're mine now Ikaruga, and that mark I just gave you will let everyone else know it. Granted it's not as effective as the full one but it should do for now." he replied still grinning at her as he sat down and put his coat over top of her like a blanket. Of course this explanation didn't help her confusion at all since she knew next to nothing about dragon slayers like the rest of the world.

"Mark, what in the world are you talking about?" she asked now just having a slightly confused expression on her face.

"Oh yeah you wouldn't know about that would you, well you see it's something that dragon slayers do because we are like dragons in a few ways. One such way is we mark our mates so that everyone else knows they are not to be touched, otherwise they have to deal with us." he explained as he thought how her confused expression actually kind of looked cute and he wanted to see it more often.

"M-m-mate, like being married?" asked Ikaruga now with a light blush on her face.

"I guess that's one way of putting it but I would say it's a little more binding on the dragon slayer's part. You already know what I'm talking about when you realized I couldn't kill you the other day. And the reason for that is because you're my mate." he said while getting back up.

"Why me?" she asked still trying to comprehend all of this since it was kind of a lot for her to process when she just assumed that she was going to be alone for the rest of her life. Something that she knows won't last much longer due to her and her team failing this job.

"Why not, you're strong and beautiful and any guy would be lucky to have you. Well that's at least my opinion of why you might have been picked as my mate, because honestly I really don't know why you're my mate Ikaruga. Some might call it fate or destiny but I really don't believe in that stuff anymore after what I've been through in the past few months." he explained while dusting off the little dirt that had gotten onto him.

"Thank you Natsu, but there is no way I'm making it out of here alive. Even if I did then my guild would do everything in their power to get rid of me." she stated with a slight sad smile.

"Oh you're definitely making it out of here Ikaruga, as for your guild coming after you we can worry about that later. Now you just wait there for me to come back for you and keep my coat safe while I'm gone." he said with a confident grin.

"You're really an idiot aren't you?" she asked with a little chuckle and slight smile as she could feel Etherion going off above them. She couldn't help but be slightly glad that her final moments where going to be with Natsu since he was definitely unlike anyone else she's ever met. A blinding light went off causing her to close her eyes as she waited for it to all be over but it never came.

"What is going on?" she asked as she looked at the tower that was now completely composed of lacrima.

"It's just the first step of Jellal's final stage of his master plan that I have to hurry up and go put a stop to. Oh and seriously keep my coat safe because I really like it." said Natsu before taking off for the stairs at a light jog.

"Did he know that this was going to happen?" she asked out loud as she finally could start moving a bit. And the first thing she did was wrap his coat around her tighter and take a big sniff from it and basking in his scent that slightly put her at ease.

 **With Erza:**

"Simon please just leave me!" begged Erza as she helplessly watched him slowly get back up to his feet while coughing out a little bit of blood.

"Sorry Erza but I can't do that." he replied only for a swift kick from Jellal to send him crashing into another pillar.

"You got that right Simon, but not because you have any choice in the matter. No you can't leave because I won't let you since you had to come up here and try to play the hero and right when I was just seconds away from achieving everything that I've been working for during these past eight years." said Jellal while laughing as he kept hitting Simon over and over again.

"Jellal stop, you're going to kill him!" shouted Erza as tears started to flow from her left eye.

"That's what I'm planning on doing to him Erza and it's all because of you." he replied with a crazed laugh as Erza could only cry more. With her now believing that it was indeed her fault since she wasn't strong enough to deal with Jellal and even let him trick her when she had the opportunity to kill him.

"Don't listen to him Erza, none of this is your fault." coughed out Simon, shocking Jellal because he was confident that he had knocked him out with that last hit.

"Aren't you the tough one, then again that is why I had you leading all of those useless idiots that betrayed me." he said as he kicked Simon in the gut and sent him flying into another pillar on the other side of the room.

"Simon!" screamed Erza as she looked at the body of her friend as he made no attempt to get back up.

"Well that seems to have done the trick, now where were we Erza? Oh yeah we were at the part where you merge with the tower and become the host for Zeref." he stated with a sinister grin as he started to make his way towards her.

"Stop! You won't hurt Erza as long as I'm still alive." said Simon, once again staggering to his feet and looking like he was literally a dead man walking at the moment.

"That can be arranged Simon, and since you've lasted longer than I ever expected you to I'm going to do the honor of finishing you off with **ALTAIRIS**." he said with a smirk as he crossed his arms above his head causing all of the shadows in the room to start moving to him and form a black ball above him.

"Jellal please stop this I'm begging you!" shouted Erza as his binding spell on her was just almost completely worn off.

"Any last words Simon?" asked Jellal, completely ignoring Erza as all of his focus was on the man that would not stay down.

"Go to hell Jellal." he replied as he spit out a huge amount of blood onto the floor in front of him.

"Not that bad for your final words." stated Jellal as he got ready to release his spell.

"Stop, if you release the spell now you'll be getting rid of your precious sacrifice." shouted Erza now standing in front of Simon.

"Erza get back." said Simon as he tried to get around her but had no luck.

"No I won't Simon, so what's it going to be Jellal?" asked Erza as she glared at him.

"Have it your way then Erza, because I already have someone else planned to take your place if something like this should happen." he replied with a little chuckle as he savored the look of dread that went across her face at hearing this.

"So long Erza and Simon." he said right as he unleashed his spell that raced towards the two and exploded on contact obstructing his vision. But as soon as it cleared he was greeted with Simon facing him and arms stretched out after he somehow was able to get around Erza and take the full brunt of the attack.

"Simon!" screamed Erza as she lunged forward as he fell to the ground unfortunately not getting to him in time. So she came to a skidding halt right next to him and started to cry as she looked down at her friend that she knew only had a few more seconds left.

"Don't cry Erza." he said in a hoarse voice as his breathing became labored.

"Why Simon, why would you sacrifice yourself for me?" she asked now with tears coming from both of her eyes.

"Because I love you Erza, actually I've always loved you, ever since the moment that I first saw you." he said quietly as a loving smile slowly made its way across his lips as he closed his eyes. And while still having that smile on his face his chest stopped moving, letting her know that he was already passed on.

"Simon!" she screamed out one last time as she started to cry into his chest. Now wondering what did they do to deserve any of this, because no one deserved to be put through what they have all just gone through. But she wasn't allowed to ponder any of this any longer due to the hysteric laughter coming from the blue haired man responsible for all their suffering over the last eight years.

"Oh man I can't believe he actually did that, I had a strong suspicion that he would be stupid enough to sacrifice himself pointlessly like that." cackled Jellal as he clutched his chest trying to calm himself down. Erza was about to lung at the bastard in front of her but before she could even make a move a flash of red zipped by her and sent Jellal crashing through a few of the pillars until he luckily stopped against a wall.

"I was told to bring you back alive but after hearing what I just did I don't know if I'll be able to stop myself from ripping you apart Jellal." said Natsu as he stood in the spot that used to contain Jellal.

"I was wondering if Yajima was going to ever call you." replied Jellal as he got up and seemed to have only received a bruise from that last attack. "So how much are they offering you to take care of me?" he asked as he dusted himself off and started to casually start strolling towards Natsu.

"Natsu?" asked Erza, now clearly lost because from what she could gather it sounded like one of the Council members might have hired Natsu to deal with Jellal.

"I'll explain later Erza, but right now me and Jellal here have to work some stuff out." said Natsu as he turned back to give her one of his grins quickly. And just from seeing that grin of his and feeling the aura coming off him at the moment let her know that she didn't have to worry about him possibly being persuaded by Jellal no matter what he offered. Because he unknowingly did something that Natsu saw as completely unforgivable, which was making fun of someone sacrificing themselves so that they could protect a loved one just like Happy did for him.

"Now Jellal I honestly don't know what they plan on paying me for doing this since I hung up before Yajima and I could discus that stuff, but it doesn't matter anymore." he replied as he cracked his head.

"So you're saying that you did actually care about Erza like I originally thought?" asked Jellal with a smirk as he too started to get ready for a fight.

"Oh I do still care about her a little bit but she's a big girl and can take care of herself. She actually had no effect on my decision to turn against you Jellal." answered Natsu as he cracked his knuckles.

"She didn't did she, then what did make you to have a change of heart so much so that not even a substantial amount of jewels could keep you on my side? Because as far as I could tell that was about the only thing you cared about anymore these days." he asked as he rolled his shoulders.

"Well if I'm going to be honest I always planned on turning against you because I've been looking for a good fight since that last guy I fought wasn't much of a challenge. But after learning that you were planning on using me as the sacrifice for this stupid tower that won't bring back Zeref made me sure that I was going to enjoy beating your ass into the ground." stated Natsu as both of his fists were now coated in his crimson flames.

"That still doesn't sound like any reason for you to not possibly accept more jewels from me since we were both ready for the other one to betray us. And it doesn't explain why you want to take my head now or how you know what the purpose of this tower is since I never told you." pointed out Jellal with a little smirk.

"Come on Jellal did you really think something as big and elaborate as your tower wouldn't get out sooner or later. But as for why I want your head removed from your shoulders is for the simple reason of you laughing at Simon's sacrifice." he replied now having a stern look on his face.

"I guess you are correct about it being impossible to keep this completely under wraps. But are you seriously upset about that fucking idiot Sim.." said Jellal, only to be cut off because of his face being slammed into the ground.

"You don't get to say his name anymore Jellal!" growled Natsu as he smashed his face into the ground two more times and then kicked him away.

"It seems like you might actually give me a good fight Dragneel, **METEOR!** " he shouted as he flashed away in a light only to appear behind Natsu and land a kick to his side that sent him flying in the air. But before Natsu could even hit a pillar or wall Jellal appeared in front of him and sent him launching the other direction.

"Come on Salamander, what happened to all of that talk about you ripping me apart and taking my head?" asked Jellal as he continued to assault the dragon slayer without even letting him touch the ground. The whole time Erza was watching in disbelief since it looked like Natsu was for some reason just taking it and not even trying to fight back.

"Natsu, what are you doing?" asked Erza quietly as she started to think that what happened to Simon was going to happen to the pink haired dragon slayer as well. Natsu was then kicked into the floor making a sizeable crater where he laid there motionless as Jellal now landed in front of her with a smug look on his face.

"Sorry Erza but it looks like the Salamander was not your knight in shining armor either. Actually he put up less of a fight then Simon did and he was barely even a mage." he chuckled to himself not realizing the looming figure behind him that actually caused Erza to let out a surprised gasp.

"I said you don't get to say his name anymore." stated Natsu in a deep and gravelly voice as he proceeded to flip Jellal over his shoulder and slam him into the floor. But before Jellal could even try and get back up he received a **FIRE DRAGON'S CLAW** to his back getting him to let out a grunt of pain.

"Don't worry Jellal the party's just getting started." he said as he kicked him into a pillar putting some space in between them. **"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!"** he bellowed as Erza could only sit back and watch in awe as a crimson roar streamed from him and was the same size as the one he used to obliterate the Jupiter Cannon. But this time she got to witness it first hand as it completely destroying everything that stood in its path as it got closer to Jellal.

 **"METEOR!"** came the panicked shout of Jellal as he just barely got out of the way of the roar that easily would have taken him out. He was a little surprised by how much that single roar had done, but after admiring the destruction that it caused he realized that Natsu was probably still recovering from a move like that. So with a crazed glint in his eyes he charged at the dragon slayer that was standing down there with his head down.

"You're wide open Salamander!" he shouted as he appeared at the right side of Natsu and delivered a strong right hook. But rather than Natsu being launched like he expected his head only moved an inch as it felt like he just tried to punch through solid two feet thick steel wall.

"That was our last free hit Jellal, I hope you're happy with it." stated Natsu as he looked back up at the mage with a crazed grin that showed off his fangs that seemed to have grown an inch or two and his eyes now having red slits. But that wasn't the only change to his appearance that Jellal instantly took notice of because right where he landed his last punch on him had what appeared to be scales. Not only where they on his face but they could also be seen on his forearms, that he also couldn't be too sure about but might have gotten slightly bigger since they started this fight.

"W-what the hell did you do?" he asked after he jumped back from the mage looking at him with a crazed grin that was even giving him the creeps. But rather than getting an answer from him, Natsu somehow vanished from his sight for a brief second to only appear in front of him.

 **"FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FISTS!"** shouted Natsu as he unleashed a fury of punches on Jellal that gave off little fiery explosions with each hit that landed.

 **"METEOR!"** shouted Jellal after kicking Natsu off of him and launching into the air where he would be safe from the crazed dragon slayer coming after him. He looked back down trying to see where Natsu was at but once again he was gone in a split second. Jellal unfortunately didn't even get to think about his because of a hand grabbing his face making it feel like he was going to be crushed with its grip alone.

"Not fast enough Jellal, **FIRE DRAGON'S GRIP STRIKE!** " he stated as a torrent of crimson flames shot from his hand gripping Jellal and hitting him point blank and eliciting the first of Jellal's so to be many pain filled scream. **"FIRE DRAGON'S CLAW!"** shouted Natsu as he kicked Jellal with a flaming foot back towards the tower.

Although right before Jellal would have made contact with the tower's floor he shot back up and launched off right back at Natsu. Where he in a blind rage he relentlessly attacked the dragon slayer expecting for it to end the way it did the first time he did something like this. Erza was left completely forgotten at the side of the room next to Simon's body too stunned by the mages fighting in front of her to even speak anymore.

All she could do was wonder if this was how he was able to take on Jose by himself. Because during that time she was just so relieved to see him now fighting on their side again, that she didn't even notice if he displayed these changes to his features as he was doing now. All this did though was raise more questions for her because as far as she knew Natsu didn't know any transformation magic like this. And she really doubted that it was that since because of the power coming off of him right now was too strong for even someone as skilled as Mira to handle when she was in her prime.

So she came to the conclusion that it had to be some sort of dragon slayer spell that he learned while he wasn't part of the guild. And from what she could gather from watching the fight it seemed to enhance all of his stats to levels that most mages would be envious of with good cause. Because at the moment it would appear that he was keeping up with the speed of Jellal's Meteor, something that she couldn't even do with her flight armor. But she was brought out of her thoughts as Jellal was tossed into a pillar just a few feet away from her and spit out some blood as he staggered back up.

"How are you not ever getting hit by any of my attacks anymore?" shouted Jellal, clearly having lost his composure during the course of this fight.

"Why do you think I let you attack me for so long?" he asked back with a smug grin now on his face as Jellal's became one of denial.

"No one would be stupid enough to let their opponent attack them that long just so they could learn their moves." shouted out Jellal, clearly not liking what Natsu was insinuating at.

"Oh but I did Jellal, because I knew that you couldn't go full out since you would be afraid of damaging this precious little tower of yours. **FIRE DRAGON'S WING ATTACK!** " he replied as he lunged forward as flames burst forth from both of his arms that he held out straight. Jellal was able to roll out of the way but as he looked back he realized that Natsu didn't care if he missed him because he took out another six pillars causing a good chunk of the ceiling to fall down.

"That's it Salamander, I don't care if I have to rebuild this whole god damn tower from scratch. I'm no longer going to be holding back so I can't wait to see you start begging me for mercy, **DARK GRAB!** " shouted Jellal as black arms shot from the floor and latched onto Natsu who looked back at him with a blank look.

"Really Jellal, if this is you not holding back then please go back to whatever you called that before." said Natsu as flames burst out from all over his body and burned away the hands like they weren't even there to begin with. Jellal was shocked at how easily he shrugged that off but it gave him enough time to start charging up another Altairis.

"Let's see how you fare against this Salamander, **ALTAIRIS!** " shouted Jellal with a smirk as he saw Natsu easily dodge it making his grin only grow bigger. Of course this caused Natsu to instantly know something was off so with a quick glance over his shoulder he realized exactly what it was. Because right in the path of Jellal's attack was Erza still kneeling next to Simon's body and looking at the incoming attack like a deer caught in the headlights of a car.

"Shit, **FIRE DRAGON'S SHEILD!** " bellowed Natsu as he got in front of the spell right before it would have hit her. Erza was completely shocked by this since she had somehow already come to terms with dying at the top of this tower and this happened to be the third time that she thought it was all over for her. The first one was when she had Jellal pinned underneath her and they both could feel Etherion charging up to be fired on them. The next two though caught her off guard since she didn't see herself as someone worthy of saving since she couldn't even stop Jellal.

"Fuck that is quite the spell Jellal you got there." stated Natsu as he dispersed his protective fire wall. Only to be caught off guard as Jellal slammed into his gut and launch him into the ceiling and into the night air. Erza looked up at the whole with a concerned look as she watched a streak of gold and one of crimson continue clashing into each other over and over again as they made their way across the sky. But a little piece of green cloth caught her eyes as it fluttered down from the hole making her concern change from her ex-guild mate to the blue haired man that really might die if the dragon slayer noticed this.

The fight continued in the sky for a few more minutes until she watched them clash into each other one last time to then become a bigger streak of crimson coming plummeting down back at the tower. It took them just a second for them to go smashing through this floor and down into the ones below, but during that split second she caught a glimpse of Natsu holding Jellal by the throat and making him slam head first through anything underneath them.

 **With Ikaruga:**

She honestly didn't know why but she for some reason decided to stay there and wait for Natsu to return to her like he said he would. And after him being gone for no more than five minutes she could start feeling the tower shake from the obviously enraged dragon slayer fighting in the upper floors. She could even feel the heat from his roar all the way down here and could only smile at how rather than feeling threatening like it probably did to most people who felt it, for her it filled her with the sense of security that she had never felt before except for with him.

There were a few minutes where she started to grow concerned because of the lack of shacking and sounds of fighting that she grew accustomed to for that brief period. But she was in for a rude awaking as the two ducking it out above all of a sudden came crashing through the ceiling and continued straight through and down into the ones below. She unlike Erza wasn't expecting it so she couldn't make out what was happening but just from seeing that it was a blazing ball of crimson flames she knew that Natsu was fine.

"You are definitely enjoying this more than you should be." she stated with a smirk as she nestled into the red fur lining of the collar on his coat.

"I would have just slit his throat by now but I guess we each have our own ways of doing things." she said as she could feel them making their way back up. Of course making a new set of holes on the way up and taking out a few pillars along the way since Natsu really didn't care about possibly taking down the tower in the process of bringing down Jellal.

 **With the others out in a boat a few miles away from the tower now:**

"We were actually about to go up against that?" asked Sho in disbelief after witnessing the large roar burst forth from the tower and then the two fighting it out above the tower.

"I honestly wasn't ever going to go up against that man unless everyone else was." stated Wally as he watched the two plummet back into the tower.

"And this is why I said we definitely needed to listen to him when he said we should retreat." said Gray as they all watched dust and other debris shoot out from the tower signaling where the two were currently at.

"See what did I tell you guys, Natsu obviously was going to help us out." declared Lucy with a smug smile as they watched the debris and smoke start going back up meaning that the two were already making their way back up to the top.

"I hope Erza and Simon are both alright." said Millianna with a concerned look on her face since she couldn't help but feel as if something had already gone terribly wrong. And judging from the way that the two were fighting right now it wasn't that hard to believe something could have happened to the other two.

"I'm sure that they're both fine, they're probably just waiting for Natsu to wrap things up." stated Lucy with a warm smile since Millianna seemed like a really nice person from what she's seen so far.

"I still can't believe that Jellal actually planned on the Council firing Etherion at the tower." said Sho as he shook his head at the tower that barely looked close to the tower that they had all worked on for the past eight years of their lives.

"It's amazing that it could actually hold that much energy." stated Wally.

"Yeah but for how long will it be able to hold before it becomes unstable?" asked Gray as they all now looked at the tower with a concerned look since the two battling it out were definitely not slowing down that process at all.

"I think we should probably keep moving away from it before something like that does happen." said Lucy not being able to hide the her uneasiness after hearing that it might become unstable, which she knew would lead to it exploding.

"If only the Water Girl was awake we could really get out of here." said Wally as he looked over at Juvia who still passed out with a happy smile on her face as she every once and a while mumbled Natsu-sama.

"I have a feeling that if she was awake then she would be in the tower right now." stated Gray as he shook his head at how odd his new guild mate was, not noticing that he was already down to his boxers.

 **Back with Erza:**

Just as the rumbling drew closer a new section of the floor exploded with the two of them erupting out of it and Jellal being tossed into a pillar as Natsu let out a triumphant roar.

"This fight isn't over Salamander." growled out Jellal as he got back up on his shaky legs.

"Yes it is Jellal, now give up before I decided to only take back your head like I wanted to do from the beginning." he growled back as Jellal somehow jumped into the air higher than he should have been able to, due to his current injuries.

 **"GRAND CHARIOT!"** shouted Jellal as he did a quick hand sigh and seven magic seals formed in front of him. Only for a line to then go and connect all of them together making it look like it was a constellation and then for a light to blast down directly onto Natsu who was looking up at it questioningly.

"That should be enough to even take out a monster like you Salamander, because not even you could hope to survive the power of a meteor strike." he stated as he landed back down next to Erza and staggered just a bit because of his wounds. Looking at the giant hole he just made in the floor with smoke billowing out of it and taking great pride in bringing down Natsu after he showed that he wasn't someone to be taken lightly.

"Natsu?" asked Erza in disbelief as the tower started to shake because of it no longer being stable after that last attack.

"I already told you Erza that he wasn't your knight in shining armor, now this isn't ideal but I'm pretty sure we can still do the ritual as long as it's within the next ten minutes." he said with crazed look in his eyes as he moved towards her slowly.

"You're correct Jellal, I'm definitely not a knight." said Natsu from within the smoke and scaring both of them since they were confident that he perished after taking on a spell like that head on.

"There is no way you should be alive!" he shouted back as he tried to find the dragon slayer.

"Do you know what I actually am Jellal?" asked Natsu still not showing himself to them.

"Like I give a fuck what you think you are Salamander!" he replied angrily. The next second finding himself laid out flat on his back with Natsu standing over him. Well what he assumed was Natsu but it was kind of hard to tell since his clothes where torn all over and was now covered in blood making him truly look like a monster.

"Well that isn't very polite of you Jellal, but I might as well tell you even if you don't care." said Natsu as he brought his hand down with his fingers sinking into Jellal's shoulder like it was soft butter causing the man to hiss out in pain. "I'm a dragon." he stated with a smirk as Jellal started to scream out in pain as Natsu lit his hand currently stuck into the man on fire. But he didn't stop there; he continued to increase the intensity of his flames while also using his other hand to start dealing out crushing blows to whatever he could reach.

Erza could only watch in horror as Natsu savagely laid into Jellal and wasn't showing any signs of letting up soon. She could only assume that this is what he did to Jose that day since the screams of pain sounded eerily similar to what she heard back then. She wanted to stop him but honestly see was too scared to even say his name and possibly become the focus of his anger so she just sat back and watched it continue on for three more horrendous minutes.

"I should really just kill you right now Jellal, but I don't think they would look too kindly on that now would they?" he asked the brutally beaten body of Jellal who had passed out a full minute ago.

"Natsu is that you?" asked Erza in a scarred tone that caught him off guard since it sounded so wrong coming from her.

"Yes it is Erza, who else would it be?" he asked her back.

"I don't know, it just seemed like what I just saw earlier wasn't you." she replied clearly not wanting to look at the man covered in blood that was mainly his but definitely had a bit of Jellal's.

"No that was all me Erza, now I need to go get Ikaruga and then we're getting the fuck out of here." he said no longer have the modifications that come with dragon force that she saw him have earlier. Natsu gave Jellal another kick and then headed down the stairs picking up his pace as he finally took notice at how much the tower was now shaking.

"You actually came back." stated Ikaruga in a slightly surprised tone.

"Of course I did, you've got my coat." he replied with a smirk as her response to that was to start glaring at him.

"So are you going to give it back?" he asked as his smirk just got bigger.

"Fuck you Salamander!" she shouted as she tossed his coat at the ground in front of his feet to the turn away from him as he started to chuckle at her response.

"Oh don't be like that; you know I was just messing around. And I think you look good in my coat by the way." he said as he picked it back up and draped it over her and then quickly scooped her up before she could object.

"Just leave me here to die." she said quietly after he had already carried her across the bridge and started to take her up the stairs.

"Not going to happen so quit asking for me to let you die." he replied while giving her one of his old toothy grins. Causing her to decide to rest her face against his chest and close her eyes and enjoy being held by him like this with neither of them speaking until they finally made it back to the top floor.

"Where the hell did she go?" he asked as soon as he noticed Erza no longer next to Simon's body. When he finally saw her he was so surprised he almost dropped Ikaruga due to the sheer shock of seeing her slowly going into the tower of her own free will.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing Erza?" he shouted while setting Ikaruga down harder than he wanted to but that didn't matter when compared to what was going on with Erza at the moment.

"I'm saving everyone." replied Erza with a sad smile as she looked back at him with teary eyes.

"Like hell you are!" he shouted back as he started heading towards her but fell over clutching his side in pain. Thinking that of course he had to start feeling the side effects of using dragon force now of all times.

"Natsu the tower is going to blow soon and wipe out everything in at least a ten mile radius. Unless someone merges with it and directs it up into the air where it won't harm anyone, so we don't really have any choice." she said now almost completely inside of it with only one of her arms and her head sticking out.

"Erza don't do this, think of everyone at Fairy Tail." he pleaded with her in the hopes that she would stop this foolishness as he continued to try and reach her.

"I am Natsu, and it's because of them that I'm doing this otherwise the rest of them will die here as well. And if I do this only one of us has too die." she replied with one last smile before she went all the way into it just before he slammed into it trying to get a hold of her.

"No one should have to die!" screamed Natsu as he punched into spot she was at just moment ago with his flames now shooting out from him.

"She's gone Natsu, but now we at least have a chance at surviving." stated Ikaruga now in a sitting position with sad look gracing her face. Not because of Erza sacrificing herself but because of how clearly upset Natsu was about someone once again sacrificing themselves in order to save him.

"No… I'm not letting it happen again!" he shouted as he was engulfed in his flames as he put both of his hands against the spot in front of him. And to Ikaruga's surprise he actually started to sink in as he screamed out in rage with his crimson flames violently shooting off of him until he too finally disappeared inside of the tower.

"Natsu?" she asked in a quiet tone, not believing that he just disappeared like that. And just like that the one person that she was starting to believe would actually help her and be with her was gone, making her hang her head down to possibly start quietly crying before it all came to an end. But before she could do that last part the spot where Natsu and Erza both disappeared at started to change to a light red that progressively changed towards a deep crimson.

It continued like this until with a blinding flash it exploded with Natsu's unmistakable crimson flames filling the spot that used to be a part of the tower. With him standing in the center of it with an unconscious Erza Scarlet in his arms as he let out another roar of triumph while his flames grew with his declaration to the world of his victory. Seeing this made a sly grin spread across Ikaruga's face as she realized that nothing could stand before a dragon and what it wants, and apparently she was under that category which made her grin only get bigger.

"You're an even bigger idiot than I ever was." said Natsu with a slight smile as he looked down at Erza in his arms, but was brought out of his musing by the tower starting to shake violently again.

"Congratulations Natsu, now we can all die together." stated Ikaruga in an amused tone that perfectly matched her current smirk. His response to this was a slight scoff as he placed Erza down and then picked up the unconscious body of Jellal and walked over to the hole behind the two women he was trying to save today, and with a crazed grin taking over his face his one fist caught on fire.

"Natsu what are you planning on doing?" she asked hesitantly.

 **"FIRE DRAGON'S CRUSHING IRON FIST!"** he shouted and hit Jellal with a flaming fist that was also being enhanced by the flames shooting out of his elbow. "Isn't that obvious Ikaruga, I'm saving all of our lives." he replied looking back at her with the same crazed grin. And before she could reply she was tossed over one of his shoulders with Erza being slung over the other one and him then jumping out of the tower.

But rather than falling straight down like she predicted them to they were flying out form the tower at a shocking rate. Of course this was still with them falling down, but now she knew they were at least going to fall into the water rather than the island that the tower was on. Even with Natsu catapulting them away from the tower at insane speeds thanks to his flames, it didn't seem like they were going to escape the explosion that Ikaruga was now witnessing taking place behind them.

In a split second the tower erupted into a giant blue explosion that knocked Natsu out of the sky and sent his group straight into the water below. But that was all it did because as soon as it hit them it seemed to get sucked back in on itself to then erupt straight back into the sky, leaving behind nothing in its place.

 **A few minutes later as Erza regained consciousness:**

The first thing she felt was an intense sense of pain all throughout her body which she didn't expect to feel in the afterlife. Actually she didn't even know if she believed in the afterlife as she slowly opened her eyes and was then met with pink locks of hair, which instantly brought a smile to her face. Although upon closer inspection the hair was way too long to be his, which meant it could only be one other person that she would rather not be facing in her current state.

"Easy now Titania, neither of us are in any sort of condition to fight." stated Ikaruga quietly as she looked at Erza's face that was at first angry but then slowly went to her usual stern expression.

"What happened?" she asked back.

"He happened." replied Ikaruga as she nodded to her left that was right next to the chest of someone in a torn and blood stained white vest and an equally torn and dirtied shirt. That was when Erza realized why the two of them were so close to each other at the moment, because right now they were both being held against the chest of Natsu Dragneel. Who at the moment looked like he might drop dead any second now due to the countless wounds that littered his body or even from a severe case of exhaustion.

"Natsu I…" she started but didn't know what to say as her words seemed to be caught in her throat.

"Erza I'm only going to tell you this once. You don't die for your friends, you live for them because that is honestly the best thing you can do. And if you ever get the stupid idea of trying to sacrifice yourself again like that I will once again stop you just so I can kill you myself." he stated while glaring down at her with an intensity that she had never seen him use even against his foes.

"Natsu I…" she started again but was cut off by him. "If your next words aren't I promise to never do it again I might as well end you right now. Because at least that way Fairy Tail can think of you as a hero rather than a coward that chose to take the easy way out." he said still glaring at her as they then stayed that way for a few moments in silence.

"Now don't get me wrong Erza, what Happy and Simon did was what they both believed to be the only option for them to protect the ones that they loved. And for all I know it was and I will unfortunately never get to thank them for doing it, but that doesn't change the fact that it was a slightly selfish act for them to do since now we both have to live on for their sakes as well. That right there is why I'm so disappointed in you Erza because you were so quick to throw away the life that Simon gave his all to protect." he finished now with a sad frown.

"I promise I'll never do something like that again Natsu." she replied as she started to cry into his chest and continued to do so for a few more minutes. Knowing that Natsu wouldn't think any less of her because of it since he too knew exactly how hard it was to watch someone you care about sacrifice themselves for you.

"Well I'd say something like take care of yourself Erza but I already know that you will. So I guess you can tell the rest of the guild I say hi." he said, finally breaking the silence while also getting up after gently getting Erza off of him and into a sitting position. Ikaruga on the other hand was now being held by him bridle style causing the woman to have a slight blush.

"Please don't go yet Natsu." she said with a pleading look sent his way.

"Sorry but I have to go track down that blue haired bastard and turn him in. Besides the rest of them will be here in a few moments since they're screaming for you right now." he replied while turning away from her and starting to slowly walk away.

"Wait Natsu, you said you'd explain things later." she pointed out which brought him to a standstill.

"That I did Erza but I never did say when that time would be, but since I'm feeling nice I'll tell you what I assume you want to know the most right now. The Council has decided to occasionally send me bounty requests that will most likely end with me dying, which I'm fine with because those are the ones that pay the best." he responded while grinning at her over his shoulder and then going back to walking away from her until he could no longer sense her presence anymore, where he then pretty much collapsed to his knees while still keeping Ikaruga from suffering any harm.

"Are you always going to put on this tough guy act?" asked Ikaruga with her usual smirk.

"Wouldn't want to ruin my reputation that I've been working on recently as being an unstoppable monster." he replied with a slight chuckle as he set her down.

"So what is really going on, since I know what you told Titania was only a half truth?" she asked him, but was completely blown off by him as he seemed to be looking intensely at something in the ocean. She tried to see what had caught his attention but couldn't see anything even after waiting for a few minutes.

"So I've decided what we're going to do about your old guild." he stated all of a sudden with a grin spread aross his face.

"Don't pretend that you didn't hear my earlier question Salamander." she said in a commanding tone but was once again completely ignored by him, which irritated her to no end but decided he probably had his reasons. "And what pray tell is your plan Salamander?" she asked in an irritated tone.

"We're going to destroy it of course, and with your knowledge it should actually be pretty easy for the two of us to do." he said with a smile that didn't fit the conversation that they were currently having. Needless to say this stunned Ikaruga since he was being completely honest to her when he said this to her and had every intention of doing it.

"You do know that they are all highly trained assassins?" she asked just wanting to make sure he knew what he was proposing, which he apparently did since he gave her a scoff while rolling his eyes. "You do realize that you'll probably have to kill a lot of them." she stated with a small smile now on her face.

"I was actually planning on killing all of them since you said they were going to be stupid enough to try and take you away from me." he replied with a devious grin spreading across his face now.

"Aren't you the possessive one, but that would probably be the only way for me to not have to worry about being constantly hunted down by them at least." said Ikaruga with a slight giggle at the beginning.

"That I am, now are you finally going to show yourself Mystogan?' asked Natsu as he looked out at the ocean again.

"Natsu there's no one out there." she stated only to be shocked when Mystogan appeared with the badly beaten and burnt body of Jellal under his arm.

"Those senses of yours are quite the formidable foe." replied Mystogan as he continued to walk towards them.

"That was you wasn't it." stated Natsu as he intently stared at the mage walking towards them.

"I have no idea what you're talking about Salamander, but I think you have some unfinished business with this man." he said while dropping Jellal right in front of him.

"That I do but I find it odd that you of all people are helping me right now." said Natsu as he reached forward and grabbed the Wizard Saint medallion off of Jellal that was shockingly still there. And with a quick yank he broke the chain and then instantly put it into his pocket dimension with a smirk.

"What's odd about a friend helping out another friend when they need it?" he asked in an amused tone.

"Nothing I guess, but don't think this means that I owe you shit Mystogan." replied Natsu with a slight glare.

"I wouldn't dream of it Natsu, so I guess we'll be seeing each other around." he stated before dissolving right in front of them with no trace of him ever being there in the first place.

"Who the hell was that?" asked Ikaruga with a shocked look on her face.

"Just an old guild member that has interacted with me way more now that I'm no longer a member of Fairy Tail." answered Natsu as he dropped two pairs of magic suppressing cuffs onto Ikaruga's lap.

"I didn't peg you for a guy liking to be bound." she said with a sultry grin spread across her lips.

"They're for him, and you would be correct about me not liking being bound. But if you want to be I'm okay with that but first I need some rest." he replied before falling onto his back and closing his eyes while letting out a tired sigh as he thought about how much trouble today was for him.

 **End of Chapter**

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed what I did since I tried to keep it somewhat similar to what happened while also having it still being different enough to hopefully keep you interested. If I didn't accomplish that please let me know where I fail so I can hopefully do better if I ever try something similar to this in the future. So I was thinking that I might have the next chapter be about Ikaruga and Natsu destroying Death's Head Cacous, but if you guys don't want that and would rather me to get straight to Fairy Tail's fighting festival then that is what I'll do. Feel free to leave a review or pm since they are always greatly appreciated and I'll try to reply back as soon as I can.**

 **Also a quick heads up on something that I'm going to do which will hopefully allow me to update these stories quicker, something that a few of you have been asking for, and if you'd like to find out what I'm planning on doing check out my profile since I don't want to waste any more of your time than I already have with this sentence here at the end.**

 **Until the next Chapter**

 **Digem Out!**


	11. A Deadly Duo

Ch 11: A Deadly Duo

 **Two weeks later in Makarov's office:**

"And then he walked off with her in his arms, without looking back even after I called out for him. I would have gone after him Master, but unfortunately I was too injured and everyone else showed up at that point as you know." said Erza as she looked up at Makarov and then turned to look at Mira who was the only other person in the room. She was surprised that during the entire story the barmaid never spoke up once like she thought she would, Erza could only assume she was letting her get it all out at in one go.

"That is very interesting to say the least Erza, and I can definitely see why you decided to keep your interactions with Natsu a secret from everyone else." stated Makarov with a thoughtful look firmly displayed across his face the whole time.

"I didn't want to add more to the rumors that are already going around about him." she replied with a frown as she looked down at her feet in shame. Believing that somehow this was all her fault for not preventing the dragon slayer from taking that S-Class job that set him down this terrible path he was now walking.

"Erza this isn't your fault, how many times do I have to tell you that and I know that he would tell you the same thing if he was here. And from what I just heard I know that the Natsu we all love and grew up is still in there even if he's trying his hardest to not let anyone else know it." stated Mira with a soft smile, glad to see that her words were able to at least get that frown off of the knight's face.

"I am thinking the same thing as well you two, and we'll be able to get a better understanding about Natsu's current state once I talk to Yajima about his involvement in all of this." said the elderly Master with a hopeful smile.

"Master I don't think he'll be able to tell you much about this, because from what I could glean from Natsu there is definitely more going on here than what he let on." she said now having a concerned look gracing her face, since Natsu had a knack of being in the center of chaos without even trying to.

"Let on Erza? From what you told us he barely told you anything we didn't already know about him." chuckled Mira, trying to lighten the mood a little bit.

"I know he didn't say much, but from how he acted and how he chose his words so deliberately. He was definitely not telling me the whole truth about what he's up to and since he's no longer part of the guild I can't really expect him to." she replied, once again frowning at the realization that he wasn't coming back to them anytime soon.

"Natsu is walking his own path now, and all we can do is hope that what he learned while with us will keep him on the right path." Makarov stated with a frown, clearly feeling responsible about all of this since he didn't have to kick him out of the guild like he did. But at the time he thought it would be a good learning experience that might cause him to finally grow up a little bit. What Makarov didn't count on was everything going so badly for the boy and effectively causing him to grow up in just a day since he was thrown into the deep end of the underworld with no support to back him up.

"I am not a fan of what he's been forced to do since we kicked him out, but he's already helped us twice from preventing something really bad from happening. Both times he had to deal with Wizard Saints might I add, which means that he's still growing as a wizard while he's out there." stated Mira with a slight smile, without the cheer that it usually has. But that was probably due to her trying to get the awful rumors about the dragon slayer out of her head, most of them depicting him as a savage monster that shouldn't be messed with under any circumstances.

"Actually now that you mention it how in the world did he get so strong so fast, because when he left us he couldn't even take me on? Now he's somehow able to take on two different Wizard Saints alone and come out victorious both times. Also I have never heard about a dragon slayer being able to do some sort of transformation like he did during his fight with Jellal." asked Erza as she turned to look at the two of them for some sort of answer.

"Considering that when he first came to us all those years ago and none of us believed him about being a dragon slayer it's not too shocking we don't know much about them. It is a lost magic and the only two mages that I know of who have it are Natsu and Gajeel, who by the way clams up at the mere mention of Natsu." she said with a slightly concerned look.

"The beating that Natsu gave him would have definitely killed anyone else other than him so it's to be expected that he wouldn't want to talk about the man that nearly killed him without even trying. A fact that Natsu definitely made clear, by then going to face Jose right afterwards and killing him like he did." stated Makarov as he hoped off his chair and stood facing out his window. The other two knew that he wasn't finished so they gave each other a nervous look and remained silent so he could continue when he wanted to.

"As for how Natsu got this strong the answer to that is that he never really showed us what he was actually capable of before this. Probably out of the fear of possibly hurting someone that he cares about, but now that he no longer has to be concerned about that he can actually go all out." he said with a slight smile, because if that was in fact true then every time Natsu said he was trying to not cause damage it was actually the truth.

"But what about that weird transformation thing he did?" asked Erza with a slightly irritated tone in her voice.

"Now that is actually something that really concerns me." he answered, which affectively got both of the women way more concerned than they were just a few seconds ago.

"After talking with Gajeel and from the little that I know about dragon slayers I can only assume that he's capable of using Dragon Force." he finished while pinching the bridge of his nose. Now thinking about how if this actually got out to the rest of the world Natsu would become one of the most sought after mages in the country. Unfortunately for him it wouldn't be just from people wanting the dragon slayer to join whatever group they were part of, there would definitely be quite a few who would try and harness this power and not care that it was an actual person that possessed it.

"Dragon Force? I've never heard of that before and I don't even know if Natsu does either." stated Mira with a worried expression that was being mirrored by the scarlet knight next to her.

"He probably doesn't, which makes all of this even more frightening than either of you could imagine. From what I got from Gajeel and the records that the Council has on Lost Magic, it is the pinnacle of dragon slayer magic. Supposedly while in that state they have the strength and power of an actual dragon, which is apparently how a human is actually capable of slaying a dragon." he explained while still looking out his window.

"Are there any down sides of him using it?" asked Erza, already imagining that he was slowly killing himself each and every time he used it.

"That I don't know Erza; most types of Lost Magic have very little information about them. Hence the term of Lost Magic, but what I do know is that what Natsu did is supposed to impossible. Well at least according to Gajeel that is, because from what his dragon told him about Dragon Force a slayer can only enter it after ingesting a large amount of magic." he answered while finally turning back to them and returning to his chair.

"But when I saw him use it he didn't eat any fire, which is what he would have had to do to absorb enough magic." she stated with a confused expression.

"And I believe you are correct about him not consuming anything like you said, so that means he has found some other way to access it. I have a theory on how he accomplished this and if it's true than it was a price that he never would have paid if given the option." responded Makarov as he looked at the two with guilt written all over his face.

"What could be too high of a price for having the power of an actual dragon?" asked Mira. Only for his guilty look to finally make sense as her brain put all of the pieces together as a look of horror came over her own.

"Oh dear Mavis." she stated while covering her mouth and then looking down at the floor. Knowing that Natsu would instantly give up his new found power, if it meant that it would bring him back, even if it was for just a day.

Erza had also come to the same conclusion as Mira by this time and had a similar reaction to the barmaid, but her response was a little milder compared to the barmaid. "So how are we supposed to proceed from here Master?" she asked, hoping that he had some sort of encouraging words for them.

"We will keep all of what we were just discussing between the three of us for now, which shouldn't be too hard of a problem. But as for what we should do about Natsu, unfortunately Erza I don't have an answer for that one since he's made it abundantly clear he doesn't want to have anything to do with me." he replied with a hurt look coming across his face. The two beauties where about to tell him that he was wrong and that Natsu would eventually come around, but he was apparently not done speaking.

"I know that both of you want to tell me that I'm wrong about that, but we all know that I'm unfortunately not. And what pains me even more than that, is that I'm no longer sure if he would even come back to the guild if I wasn't here anymore. That one small decision I made that day not only took away his best friend, but it might have also ruined his relationship with all of you as well." he continued while putting his head in his hands. Leaving Erza and Mira completely speechless, neither of them had ever seen him so uncertain and distraught during their entire time at the guild.

"Master you are not the one responsible for Happy's death, that falls on the hands of the ones who actually killed him and Jose's. All of whom have been dealt with by Natsu and won't harm another person ever again." declared Mira as she gave him a stern look that he didn't even notice since he was still staring at his desk.

"A small part of me wants to believe that Mira, but it was my job to protect him from ever having to be put into a position like that. And I knew something was off about none of the other guilds picking him up, but I did nothing and sat back while he and Happy struggled to make it all on their own." stated Makarov barely above a whisper but it was still loud enough for the two other occupants to hear him.

"But you were looking into it Master, you never could have guessed what Jose was up to." pointed out Erza, who hated seeing him like this.

"Now look at me, I've got the two of you worried about me more than you already were. So let's move onto a brighter topic like the upcoming Fantasia Parade and the beauty pageant we're having earlier that day." he said with a genuine smile, that unfortunately the other two could tell wasn't as bright as it once was.

 **About a week's walk away from Magnolia in the middle of a swamp:**

Fiore is known to have a wide variety of landscapes, ranging from semi normal areas like the Worth Woodsea and Mt. Hakobe. But it also has a few locations scattered across it that define all logic and reason such as the swap two lone figures can be seen walking through right now. Now what sets this specific swamp apart from all the other swamps that are sprinkled across Fiore, besides it somehow being nameless? The first thing a normal person would take notice of is the dense fog that hangs over it and doesn't disperse despite whatever might be happening around it.

Now if a mage happened upon this swamp they would notice two different things other than the fog, with one that would cause most of them to steer clear of it completely. One of those things would be the high concentration of Ethernano floating in the air which is something that would usually cause people to flock towards it. But the other thing that a mage would notice is the slight stench of death that clings to the air and fills most explores with a sense of uneasiness and foreboding that eventually forces them to leave and never return.

Although that is what usually happens when someone stumbles upon this secluded little swamp that is hidden in the middle of Fiore. There are those who even after sensing the unpleasantness of the area continue on without a care in the world, just like the two mentioned before are currently doing. Both of whom would stick out as much as they currently are right now even if they were in the middle of a city. And that would mainly be due to both of them wearing white outfits and having pink hair that easily catches almost everyone's eyes as they pass them by.

"I kind of like this place." stated the male with a smirk as the two continued to walk through the swamp as if it was just a casual stroll through the park.

"And why in the world would you like a dreary place like this?" asked the woman as she glared down at the bottom of her kimono, that was completely ruined after just a minute in this place.

"Because I imagine that this would be the perfect place to go and not be disturbed by anyone for as long as you want to be alone." he replied while shrugging his shoulders and not even sparing her a second glance. Something that his companion took notice of and didn't seem too happy about, if her slight glare was anything to go by.

"There are plenty of places other than a swamp that can provide the same seclusion, while also not being completely disgusting like it is here. Just look at what it did to my beautiful kimono, not to mention the fact that we can't even see ten feet in front of us." she stated while still glaring at him.

"True, but I bet most of those places don't turn away people like this place does." he said while giving her a quick grin, which was more than enough to get her to stop glaring at him.

"It's probably why Death's Head Caucus made it the location of their headquarters." she replied with a small grin.

"No kidding, even if the Council knew that their guild was located in here I don't know if they could ever actually find it. Actually how do the members get to their guild hall with all of this fucking fog lingering about at all times of the day?" he asked while coming to a stop and getting her to do the same.

"We are given a little devise that can lead us through it, and they only last for about a day so there is no fear of an outsider getting their hands on one of them and stumbling in by accident." she explained, while wondering why he actually decided to stop randomly like he did.

"Interesting, I've got another question for you. How in the world does this place not have a name by now, I mean this fog alone is name worthy by itself?" he asked while gesturing at the dense fog that seemed to have actually gotten worse somehow.

"That's actually an interesting little mystery about this place that is still up for debate. From what I was told it did have a name at one point before it was covered with this damn fog and Ethernano, but as soon as they both showed up the name was forgotten and lost from history." she answered while covertly scanning over his shoulder and taking notice of a few odd branches in the surrounding trees.

"Okay, but then why hasn't it gotten a new name?" he asked with a smug grin spreading across his lips.

"People have tried, but for some reason none of the names seem to stick and everyone just seems to forget about them." she replied, but was thrown off guard when he slipped his arms around her waist and leaned his forehead against hers. And if they weren't this close to each other she wouldn't have never been able to hear what he whispered to her, but even if she hadn't she would have been able to get the gist of it by crazed grin that was making its way over his face.

But as soon as it was there it disappeared just as fast, only for him to bring her into a passionate kiss. One that caused both of them to forget that they were currently in a swamp, him having a firm grasp on her ass as he actually picked her up. While she on the other hand had one hand in his pink locks while the other one was also keeping him right where she wanted him with it on the back of his neck. And they both only stopped so that they could get some air to breathe, she wanted to go straight back to it but one look into his eyes told her otherwise as he set her back down.

And just like that, the two of them went back to walking as if they hadn't just made out like two horny teens just seconds ago. "Do you know what the real problem with this fog is?" he asked with a sly grin as she looked at him with a knowing look.

Seeing that he wasn't going to proceed unless she asked him what, she let out a long sigh while also rolling her eyes. "No I don't, please tell me." she stated in a bored tone, since she didn't feel the need to ever do any of these theatrics whenever she was doing a job with her old team. But considering what he did for her she could let him have some fun every now and again, and if she was honest with herself it usually did make it more entertaining than it would have been without it.

"It does offer great cover, but it can just as easily be used against you. Especially when dealing with a dragon slayer who can pinpoint an attacker from one hundred yards away just from their scent alone." he said with a grin that showed off his fangs. The very next second two crimson balls of fire shot from his hands and went into the fog and becoming a faint red glow until they both hit their targets. And upon hitting their marks two explosions rung out in the fog, while also being accompanied by the screams of agony of the mages hiding in it.

"ATTACK THEM NOW!" shouted out a voice from the fog. And right after that four hooded figures appeared in the location that once contained the pink haired duo, that were now absent without leaving a trace. This of course caused the four of them to start looking around as a fearful panic started to set on their group as the cries of agony could still be heard in the distance.

"Where the hell did they go?" asked one of them just as a new terrified scream could be heard originating from their right. It quickly turned from one of fear to the sounds of someone possibly screaming out their last breath since it was gone after a few seconds.

"Shit, this is definitely not how it was supposed to go down." stated a male member of their group as a new scream of terror echoed throughout the swamp.

"There are only two of them for crying out loud and we have the advantage of home turf." replied a different member as the rest of his group turned to look at him. But what they were met with was something that none of them could have ever expected to see, and that was his head falling off his shoulders and the rest of his body following afterwards into the swamp.

And standing behind him was none other than Ikaruga, one of the top members of their guild or more accurately former member. The remaining three knew that they had absolutely no hope facing her right now, even with the advantage of it being three to one currently. "Hello, what no warm greetings for an old member of the guild?" she asked with a smirk as she eyed up the three in front of her.

"You know the guild's standing on members failing a job Ikaruga." said one of the two females in their little group. She tried to sound confident, but the small explosions and screams of her fellow guild members dying was getting to her and caused her voice to waver.

"Actually that is the exact reason why my friend and I decided to stop by and have a few words with all of you." replied Ikaruga still smirking as she slowly walked towards them. Only stopping so a charred body wouldn't hit her on her route to them, this seemed to terrify the three more for obvious reasons.

"I was actually trying to convince my partner that we didn't need to wipe all of you out and only needed to dispatch the guild master and a few of the higher ranked members. But then you idiots actually went so far as to attack us while we were having a lovely stroll." she said as her smirk was lost and she now looked at the three of them with disgust and anger.

"We were just following orders Ikaruga." replied the only male as he fought to keep his body from shaking at the mere sight of her glare.

"So am I, and Salamander really doesn't like it when someone attacks his mate." she said with her smirk once again coming over her face. As she watched the three realize how truly screwed they were right now and why the rest of their members were mercilessly being hunted down on their own turf.

Two of them after processing this took off in the other direction as fast as they could without even sparing a glance back at the two girls looking at each other. "How in the world did that happen?" asked the last member of Death's Head Caucus as she looked the sword mistress in the eyes.

"It's a long story, and aren't you going to try and flee like the rest of your team?" asked back Ikaruga, finding it slightly odd that the woman in front of her wasn't even making any attempts to defend herself either.

"Why run away and be cut down like a cowardly dog? No I would much rather stare down the person that is going to end it, knowing that at least I have a little honor remaining." she replied with a slight smile.

"We are like minded on that, and I thought it was all over for me just two weeks ago. But Salamander had other plans for me and saved my life, which is actually why I'm standing here right now and doing what I must to ensure that I can eventually pay him back." said Ikaruga with a faint smile gracing her face.

The other woman was about to speak, but another horrid scream came from inside the fog and stopped her momentarily. After regaining her composure she looked back at her soon to be executioner with a determined look in her eyes. "So what I'm hearing right now is the handy work of him?" she asked still having that same look in her eyes as before.

"Yes it is, and I know what you're thinking right now, which is that there is no way that a Fairy could be responsible for what you're hearing right now. I thought the same thing since those rumors about him killing Jose and those other dark mages seemed like they were nothing more than just that." stated Ikaruga as a huge explosion rang out from her left side and actually caused her hair to sway to the right from the air pressure.

"But they are all true and I would go so far as to say that they don't give him enough credit for how brutal and deadly he can actually be from what I've seen of him so far. I mean not many mages can say that they've taken out two Wizard Saints all by themselves like he has, oh you didn't hear about him taking out Siegrain a little while ago did you?" she continued with a bigger smirk than normal. Watching as the other woman's eyes almost came out of her head after hearing that little bit of information.

"You've got to be kidding me." stated the lady in a hushed tone, afraid that the man they were speaking about might show up any second now.

"Nope, and you idiots were about to attack him as if he was just a normal mage." she said while taking notice that the screams and explosions seemed to have abruptly come to an end.

"Master doesn't stand a chance against someone like that, especially with most of our higher ups being out on other jobs." replied the woman as she too finally took notice of how quiet it was now.

"So it's just Master at the guild hall?" asked Ikaruga as she watched for any signs of deceit.

"No there should be about ten other members who weren't sent out here to deal with you two. But from what just happened I'm confident that the two of you can easily handle it." she answered while looking down, wondering when Ikaruga was finally going to be done with her and slice her in half.

"Very interesting, you've been more helpful than I would've thought a member would be." stated Ikaruga as she looked the young lady up and down again. Making sure to memorize everything she could about her and how she carried herself, something that the lady appeared to take notice of.

"Why in the world are you looking at me like that?" she asked in a slightly nervous tone since she was being inspected as if she was a piece of meat.

"She's looking at you like that because I'm pretty sure she wants to keep you." came the voice of Natsu as he casually strolled up to them from the direction that the other two had run off a while ago. Needless to say the assassin was a little terrified by his sudden appearance and his current look, which was his normal outfit but with the addition of him having blood splattered all over him.

"K-keep m-m-me?" she stuttered out while slightly backing away from Natsu and towards Ikaruga.

"Natsu I don't plan to have her as a pet!" declared Ikaruga as she glared at him, but couldn't keep it up due to his smug grin that he currently had.

"But I would be lying if I didn't say that she intrigues me enough to let her live." she finished now having a devious smirk on her face as she checked the woman out again. Something that would have scared the lady more than she already was, if she wasn't currently looking at Natsu like a wild animal backed into a corner.

"Whatever Ikaruga, if you are fine with letting her go then by all means let her go. But before you do I have to give her a little helpful advice that she will be better for knowing." he said while continuing to walk towards them and finally stopping just a foot in front of last member of Death's Head Caucus that was sent at them.

He slowly leaned in towards her so that his mouth was right next to her right ear, allowing the terrified girl to feel the heat radiating off of him. "If you so much as look at Ikaruga with any ill intent… I will enjoy hunting you down and taking my time with finishing you off in the most painful way possible." he said in just a whisper.

"But that shouldn't be a problem since she obviously sees something in you." finished Natsu in his normal voice as he walked past her and brought Ikaruga into another passionate embrace that quickly turned into a kiss.

"Well aren't you getting a little frisky?" asked Ikaruga with a sultry look as they separated for air. Both of them being able to see how much the other wanted to rip the clothes off of each other right then and there so that they could start going at it like rabbits.

"You're one to talk." he stated with a smirk while motioning down to her hand that was fiddling with his belt and pants. Knowing full well that she was talking about his one hand that had found its way once again to her ass while the other one was holding her side just under her right breast.

"I can't let you have all the fun now can I?" she asked while actually getting the belt to unbuckle and proceeding to work on his pants with her usual smirk.

"As much as I want to keep this going, don't we have some more pressing matters to attend to? Like what you plan to do with our current spectator, or more importantly finishing off the rest of your old guild." he stated while giving her ass a firm squeeze and then brushing a few stray hairs of her behind her ear with his other. He enjoyed the slightly shocked look she made while trying to suppress a moan from escaping her lips from that simple action of his, showing how much she really wanted him at the moment.

"You're correct, every time we're just about to have some fun my old guild seems to come and ruin it." she said with a slight scowl that then turned back to a smirk.

"That alone is reason enough for us to destroy Death's Head Caucus, which we'll have pretty much done after today. Of course there will be a few random members showing up to try and kill us, but that will just make sure we stay on our toes." she finished while bringing him into kiss this time.

"Never hurts to remain on our toes, but you still haven't said what you plan to do with her." said Natsu while gesturing over his shoulder at the woman that had been watching them this whole time. Too scared to make a single noise or move from her current spot as the two made out with each other.

"I still haven't decided what to do with her yet, we did agree that it would probably be best to kill all of them." she replied with a mischievous glint in her eyes as she looked at the nervous woman they were talking about.

"I've already accepted that I was going to die today, and I will not become the pet of someone." said the woman in a confident tone that only wavered when Natsu turned to look at her. With a look that said if Ikaruga wanted her to become a pet for her then he was going to make it happen despite whatever she might believe.

"And that little fact alone is why you are still standing here right now. So I've decided to let you live, so why not try and find a new reason to exist like I've done after my life." said Ikaruga with a grin as she turned away from her and headed towards the direction that Natsu told her earlier contained the guild.

"Are you serious?" she asked with a shocked expression taking over her tense one that she had since finding out that Natsu was with Ikaruga.

"Yep, but if you come after me for revenge then we'll be sure to make you regret that we didn't kill you today." replied Ikaruga as she with Natsu by her side started to walk into the fog and disappeared from view. Leaving the poor girl all alone with her own thoughts in the middle of the swamp, with the main question being what they both could gain by leaving her alive when they had just so easily taken down everyone else only moments ago.

"I'm surprised that you let her live." stated Natsu with a little grin on his face once he knew that they were out of ear shot.

"And why do you find me sparing someone so surprising might I ask?" she said while giving him a stern look that he knew meant she wasn't going to let up until he answered her.

"Well you were a well-known assassin, and to become that I'd assume that you wouldn't be able to ever really do that." he explained with a casual shrug of his shoulders while making sure that they were heading in the right direction.

"True, but now that I'm no longer an assassin I don't have to be so heartless all of the time. Besides I didn't kill all of those other mages at the tower when I could have easily done it." she replied with a slight frown as she looked down at her feet as they trudged through the swampy water that went up to her knees.

"Hey I wasn't trying to make you feel bad or anything Ikaruga, I'm just glad to see that there is more to you than a deadly woman with an incredible body that is madly in love with me." he replied with a smirk as she playfully hit him now with a smile gracing her face.

"Also I'm glad that you didn't kill the rest of them since that would have definitely made things really difficult for us in the future. And from what I saw of your fight I don't know if you would have been able to kill Juvia if you even wanted to." he finished now having a huge grin spread across his lips as she started to hit him again, but this time a little harder than before.

"I'll have you know that if it was just the two of us I could have easily killed that crazy stalker of yours." she declared after hitting him a little while longer, only to then turn her head away from him with her nose held up in the air.

"For the last time Ikaruga she isn't a crazy stalker, I was just apparently the first person to actually treat her like another human being. And because of that she acts a little weird around me when compared to everyone else." he stated with a sigh. For some reason Juvia had become a frequent topic of conversation between the two of them since the incident at the tower of heaven, and if it was any other woman Natsu would have believed that she was getting jealous for no reason.

"Whatever you say Natsu, but a woman knows when a different woman likes her man more than just as a friend." she stated while looking back at him with a stern look that he just chuckled at.

"So you're admitting that I'm your man, when did that start?" he asked with a smug smile after he stopped chuckling.

"Since you saved me, but that's not the point I was trying to make you idiot." she shouted at him with an angry huff at the end as he once again went back to chuckling. And they continued on like this until he abruptly came to a stop as they stood out in front of a large building that was suspended above the water by at least three feet.

That wasn't the only thing that set this building apart from most buildings, no what did that the most was the incorporation of the trees that were heavily scattered throughout this swamp. From what you could see from the outside of the building it would appear that about eighty percent of the building was made with the local trees. But it was done with the aid of magic since the trees grew in unnatural ways that made the building still have living walls that only became stronger as time passed by.

"You definitely don't see a building like that every day." he stated with a long whistle as he admired the building that rivaled the size of Fairy Tail's guildhall before Gajeel destroyed it.

"It's been around as long as the guild has." she informed him with her usual smirk.

"It's a shame that it will most likely be destroyed here shortly, so how do we want to go about this?" he asked with a serious look directed at his partner since he knew that the master of an assassin's guild like Death's Head Caucus was sure to be a deadly opponent.

"Well I'm confident that they know we're coming for them by now, so I would say we go with a strategy that they wouldn't expect from us. And the easiest way to do that would be to split up and take out as many as we can since I'm confident that my old Master won't make a move until no one else is left." she suggested now also having a serious look on her face as well.

"Fine by me." he replied while cracking his neck and rolling his shoulders.

"Natsu please be careful, and if you happen to run into him before we meet back up again he's a shadow mage." she stated while looking at him with a little bit of concern. But she knew he could handle all of them by himself if he wanted to after what she witnessed from him already.

"I will as long as you do the same, and seriously is there something I don't know about shadow magic?" he asked with his usual grin as she chuckled at his comment. Knowing that so far the only shadow mages that he's ever met so far have been dark mages, but she didn't know that it was one of them that killed Happy. If she had then she would have known that there was absolutely nothing for her to worry about if he ran into her old Master by himself. And without saying another word to each other they headed into the building, ready to end this chapter of her life for good.

 **Two brutal hours later for Death's Head Caucus:**

"I have to say that I'm quite impressed with your abilities Salamander. And I'm not just talking about your fighting skills; I don't know how you were able to convince Ikaruga to turn on us but bravo my boy." said the guild Master while clapping his hands still seated behind his desk. He was acting as if his whole guild hadn't just been completely wiped out over the past few days and more specifically the last few hours.

"Thanks, but I'm not a fan of being called a boy, since I'm anything but that. Something that I'm confident I've just proven to most people by now with my current escapades." replied Natsu as he dropped the corpse of the last mage standing between him and the guild master.

"Oh, just like how you don't like being called a Fairy anymore." he stated with a grin. As a small explosion of crimson flames destroyed pretty much everything in the office the next second, leaving a clearly upset Natsu standing by himself as he glared at the spot that used to contain the guild master.

"No I don't really care to be called that anymore, so why don't you come back out so we can actually start having some fun." stated Natsu as his magic started to flare up and he went into Dragon Force.

"You are not an easy one to trick are you Salamander, well at least you don't seem to be anymore that is? So how about we skip the fight where I put you in your place and jump straight to me offering you and Ikaruga a place at my guild. I mean you have both proven to be more than capable enough, not only that but you've also gotten rid of most of the weaklings already so this time Death's Head Caucus will only be the best of the best." he offered with a huge grin spread across his face. Not knowing that an offer like that would if anything have the opposite effect on the dragon slayer than desired.

"You'd really do that?" asked Natsu with a grin that showed off his longer than normal fangs.

"Yes I would, I can already tell that we're going to become one of the most feared dark guilds in the country." he replied while somehow not detecting the killing intent that Natsu currently had for him right now.

"I don't really know about all that." stated Natsu as his grin only grew in size.

"What in the world are you talking about Salam…" he asked only for him to now be face to face with Natsu and being lifted up by the throat.

"What I meant by that is I might be one of the most feared mages in Fiore within the next few years. But you and Death's Head Caucus will definitely not be around to achieve anything like that as well." growled Natsu before swinging his fist at the man's face. But rather than him feeling the bones crunching under his fist like he expected he was met with absolutely nothing.

"That's a shame; I was really hoping to use you and that traitorous bitch of yours to get back to the top in just a few months. But since you've decided to throw your lives away I guess it will just take me a few more months." he replied while coming back out of a shadow with a smug grin on his face. But it was instantly removed when a flaming red fist connected with the side of his face and launched him into the other side of the room and almost through the wall.

Before he could even react to this he was already being assaulted by **"FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FISTS!"** from the enraged dragon slayer. **"FIRE DRAGON'S GRIP STRIKE!"** shouted Natsu as he held the man's face with his right hand that once again became empty thanks to him going back into a shadow.

 **"SHADOW BLADES!"** screamed out the slightly burned and very enraged guild master as he appeared in the corner of the room. Ten pure black daggers where formed out of shadows in front of his out stretched hands and then sent flying at the back of Natsu before he could even turn.

"I'm going to really enjoy slicing you apart piece by piece Salamander." he said while clutching the left side of his face that now had a severe burn. But he stopped talking when he realized that his last attack seemed to have absolutely no effect on the mage in front of him who was completely covered in crimson flames.

"I think I might have to do that to you since it does sound like a good time. Especially since you had the balls to call Ikaruga a bitch to my face and even threaten to try and kill her." said Natsu while fire literally spewed from his mouth and only increased the amount that was already coating him.

 **"SHADOW BLAST!"** shouted out the master as he unloaded dark bullets composed of shadow from his fingertips. And he kept this up until he realized something that he couldn't believe or understand, somehow without even putting up any sort of defense, Natsu was dispelling his attacks before they could connect with him as he slowly proceeded towards his prey, which was unfortunately him.

"That's not going to work buddy and neither is any of your other attacks." declared Natsu as he continued to walk towards him with a slight snarl escaping from his lips.

"We'll fucking see about that Salamander! **SHADOWS OF ENSNAREMENT! SHADOWS OF DESPAIR!"** shouted out the master of Death's Head Caucus. His first spell sent shadow tendrils that would usually latch onto his opponent and restrain them from being able to move an inch. While his second spell formed two large cobras from his own shadow that went out from his feet and could easily strike at someone over twenty feet away from him with a simple hand gesture.

But once again he was at a loss for words when he realized that his first spell seemed to have no affect on Natsu what so ever. And the smug look he was currently receiving from the dragon slayer made him instantly loss the little calm that he had been trying to regain to finish this fight. "How are you doing that Salamander?" he shouted as he positioned his two snakes in between the two of them.

"It's actually pretty simple really, what gets rid of shadows." replied Natsu with a little chuckle as his flames intensified and the two snakes slithered back ever so slightly.

"That's bullshit; there is no way that your flames can overpower my shadows so easily!" he hollered while getting both of his snakes to lung at Natsu. Who dodged both of them with what appeared to be an ease that could only come from years of training to push his body to the limits. And now that he was past their heads he delivered a swift slash to the one on his right, cutting it in two and effectively making the shadow mage's spell half as deadly.

"What were you saying?" asked Natsu while now just five feet away from the guild master. Who now had a terrified expression on his face, regretting that he didn't take the rumors about Natsu seriously since he used to be from Fairy Tail and was only known before for being an idiot who caused a lot of damage. So he did the only smart thing to do in a situation like this and that was to run, which was something he excelled at thanks to him being able to go into shadows.

"GGGAAAHHHH!" he screamed out in pain as he was launched through one of the walls and fell onto the floor below. And as he looked back up all he could see was a crimson ball of fire before he was feeling the most excruciating pain that he ever had the displeasure of feeling. All thanks to a flaming foot being imbedded into his gut and burning him while also keeping him pinned there.

"Sorry but I'm not going to let you get away that easily. And I'm betting you're surprised that I knew about still being able to hit you while you're in your shadow form?" asked Natsu with a wicked grin spread across his face as he looked down at the man beneath him. Watching with disgust as he shouted out a few different spells, but each and every time they resulted in absolutely nothing thanks to his overpowering flames.

"How are you so strong?" he asked back while in obvious pain, while completely ignoring Natsu's question since it was obvious that he thought that.

"The old me would have said I got this way because of my friends and family. But now that I'm a little short on both of those I'd have to say it's because I was lucky enough to be found by a dragon. Well that and I've decided that I'll do absolutely whatever it takes to protect the few things that I still hold dear in this world." answered Natsu while increasing the pressure and also the amount of flames that were coating his foot.

"And you unfortunately, are someone that has to die to ensure that Ikaruga won't be bothered by her old life anymore." he explained while glaring down at the assassin beneath his boot. But he was caught off guard when he noticed that the man was smiling back up at him.

"Sorry Salamander, but she'll always have someone coming for her head. Granted you've successfully stopped Death's Head Caucus from trying to accomplish that, but what are you going to do about all the people that she's pissed off during her time here? Or a better question what are you going to do when the Council sends people or even other mages after her?" asked the man while he broke into crazed laughter that continued on most likely due to the intense pain that he was currently in.

"That's none of your business." growled out Natsu as he decided to finish him off right then. He then brought down both of his flaming hands and imbedded them into the man's shoulders, eliciting the loudest scream from the master so far. That was only then topped when Natsu in a swift movement ripped of both of his arms, causing the man beneath him to writhe in agony. "I will turn against the whole world if that's what I need to do to protect her." he spat out before slamming down his foot and crushing the guy's skull into the floorboards.

"Those are some very good questions he had that I wouldn't mind hearing your answers to." stated Ikaruga with a sly smirk as she leaned against the wall just a few feet away.

"As I've told you before Ikaruga you won't have to worry about the Council as long as you stick with me. And as for other people coming after you for revenge, I really doubt they will pose much of a threat to either of us. Also after word gets out that you're now with me I highly doubt anyone will be stupid enough to even try." he said while walking towards her with a smirk of his own.

"A girl could definitely get used to having a big bad dragon slayer protecting her like this." she replied while walking towards him as well. But as she did, she let her kimono slip off of her with each step so that once they were right in front of each other it was barely even on her anymore.

"Seems like you want to pick up where we left off." he stated with a little growl as he moved in for a kiss. "Just a little bit more." thought Ikaruga as their lips were just centimeters apart. Only for him to stop and her to now feel a painful burning sensation in her chest.

"What?" she asked while looking into his eyes that were now glaring back at her with absolute hatred. And as she looked down her eyes widened when she realized his hand was buried in her chest and most likely sticking out of her back.

"Did you honestly think you could pass yourself off as my mate?" asked Natsu as the arm going through her lit on fire and caused her to scream out as it burned her from the inside out.

"You're lucky that I don't really enjoy torturing people, because if I did then you would have just earned yourself a really long session for trying to pull something like that." he said as her lifeless body fell to the ground, no longer looking like Ikaruga at all and having a closer resemblance to Lucy's landlady.

"Now I need to go and see where the real Ikaruga is at right now." he thought as he took a big whiff of the air to get her scent. And just like that he let his nose lead him to where she was currently residing at which appeared to be in the third level of the guild hall. As he made his way through the floor he couldn't help but realize that this used to be the guilds living corridors that Ikaruga probably used quite often before. He now found himself in front of a door that he knew contained her on the other side, and judging from the smell it was in fact her old room. So with that in mind he turned away to let her gather whatever belongings she might want to keep before they leave this place for good.

"Natsu, is that you?" asked Ikaruga from inside the room.

"Yeah, but I think I'll just wait for you outside." he replied while he continued to slowly walk away.

"Wait, I want you to come in so I can show you something." she said in a slightly nervous tone that caused him to start worrying about someone else possibly getting the drop on her.

"Coming in." he announced as he opened the door ready to lay the smack down if needed. But what he saw next was something he was definitely going to remember for the rest of his life fondly. Sprawled out on the queen sized bed in the middle of the room was his pink haired mate in all her natural glory. Letting him take in her shapely ass and the rest of her back side that showed how fit she truly was, while also giving him a better view of a small part of his mating mark.

"So, do you like what you see my ferocious dragon?" she asked while twisting to her side so he could get a good view of her front since her back was the only visible part to him when he entered. This also allowed him to see the rest of her mating mark, which happened to be a large, yet also slender, pink dragon mainly on her side that spilled a little bit onto her back side that he got a good look at just before. Its head actually ended right on her stomach slightly with it underneath one of her breasts by just an inch. But what attracted Natsu eyes almost instantly was the dragon's tail going down the side of her hip, with it wrapping around and ending right in between her legs. Almost as if it purposely directed his eyes to the woman's most sacred place on her whole body, a place that was soon going to belong to him alone.

Rather than saying anything back to the woman that clearly wanted to finish the last step of their mating ritual, he decided to let out a deep growl as he started to strip out of his own clothes. This caused the sexy sword mistress to let out a little giggle at how eager the dragon slayer was for this as well, probably more so than her thanks to his dragon instincts.

"Well this should be fun." she stated with a sultry grin spreading across her lips as she looked at the now equally nude dragon slayer standing in front of her.

"You have no idea." He growled out as he climbed onto the bed and her as they locked eyes. Allowing both of them to see how much they each wanted this which was easily seen from the lust in their eyes, but Natsu was shocked to see that she actually had a little bit of love in them as well. So with a happy grin he brought her into a passionate kiss that he hoped would let her know his true feelings about her at the moment and that it was going to remain that way no matter what.

Had anyone other than those two remained alive in that swamp they would have gotten an earful of the two's very first and passionate love making. That somehow carried on for a few hours and resulted with more than a few of Death's Head Caucus' rooms being completely destroyed.

 **Five days later in Hargeon:**

"Laxus, would you please reconsider getting him involved in this? You heard what Bixlow saw when we last met him and that was over a month ago." pleaded Evergreen as the two walked down one of the back alleys of the port town where it was commonly known that the less than reputable people hang out.

"For the last time Ever, he's going to be the last piece of the puzzle to push the old man past his limit and hand the guild over to me. Also I find it hard to believe that Natsu of all people scared the three of you like he did, that alone makes me want to see the little brat again." replied Laxus with a huge grin spread across his face as he shoved a man out of his way.

"Watch where you're going asshole." he shouted at Laxus as he started to get back up.

"What was that?" asked Laxus as he came to a grinding halt and the surrounding air started to have a slight tingle to it. Something that Evergreen had grown used to while being a part of his team, and she knew that it meant the idiot that talked back to Laxus was soon going to be in a lot of pain shortly.

"I said watch where you're going asshole or are you deaf as well as blind. Because if you weren't than you wouldn't have been dumb enough to mess with me like you did. Now unfortunately my boys and I are going to have to rough you and your girlfriend up a little bit." said the man with a cocky grin as he cracked his knuckles. Behind him four similarly dressed men appeared to be getting ready for a fight that they clearly believed they were going to win.

"I'm not his girlfriend you dolts!" shouted Evergreen as she glared at them and contemplated turning them to statues right then so they could continue on. But before she could Laxus started to laugh to himself, something that the man and his goons were definitely not expecting to hear from him since most people were terrified by them at this point and would try to bargain their way out of a confrontation.

"What the hell is wrong with him?" asked one of the goons as they all watched Laxus continue to laugh to himself like he had just been told the most entertaining thing he had ever heard in his entire life.

"I don't know so why don't we go ahead and beat the shit out of him already." stated another one but made no moves because Laxus was now no longer laughing like he was just a second earlier.

"My god, what is it about him that just causes chaos to follow him no matter where he goes? I mean I don't think I've ever had a group of trash like you do something like this to me for my entire life." said Laxus as he grinned at the group of men that were glaring daggers at him.

"But when I'm just trying to go and have a meeting with an ex-guild member of mine all of this happens, it really makes you think doesn't it Ever? Oh and you pieces of filth are free to go and run off to whatever trash heap you call a home." he finished with a little chuckle and then started to walk away from them with Ever following.

"You arrogant prick, let's fuck him up boys!" shouted the leader, only for the loud clap of thunder to ring throughout the town. Laxus once again continued to walk away, leaving the few on lookers to watch as the five other men fell to the ground a twitching mess with severe burns all over them. Every once and a while a spark would shoot off of them as they continued to twitch on the ground as people passed them by since they didn't want to be on the receiving end of the remaining lightning in them.

"Right there is just another reason we shouldn't involve Natsu." stated Ever with a scowl as she looked at the extremely amused expression on Laxus's face.

"Come on Ever that will only make it all the more entertaining. Especially when his old friends are forced to fight against him, which like I said before will be more than the old man can handle." he replied with a little chuckle.

"Yes we all know that this will be more than what Master Makarov can handle. But do you really think we can trust him at all, I mean just look at what happened with Phantom Lord?" she asked him back now having a concerned look.

"You do realize that he did exactly what Jose paid him to do. If that old windbag was smarter he would have paid him to stay on until the job was finished. But since he didn't Natsu left and only returned to get revenge on Jose for the part he played in his cat's death, which just so happened to save the rest of those weaklings." he replied with a smirk as everyone made sure to steer clear of him after what he just did moments ago.

"Fine, I can see that no matter what the three of us say you are determined to involve him. But I'm not going to take my eyes off of him, because like the three of us have been saying this whole time there is definitely something off with him now." she stated with a stern look directed at Laxus that he didn't even notice.

"Well this is where I was told he likes to visit when he's in town." he stated with a grin as he looked up at the sign that read: The Drunken Sailor.

"Looks like a dump to me." commented Evergreen with a look of disgust as they entered the tavern. And upon entering they were greeted with the stench of booze, smoke and a little bit of vomit, all common smells for run down taverns like the one they were currently in. Both of them were actually a little shocked to see how crowded it was at noon, most of the tables were packed with unsavory characters having a laugh with their friends as they drank to their hearts' content. While others seemed to be most likely discussing business that one could only find willing people to do in a place like this, and a few tables were actually playing poker. But as with most things in this tavern it wasn't just a normal game of poker, no the ones taking place here where high stakes and allowed almost any kind of bet you could think of if the rest of the table agreed to it that is.

"Well if it isn't Laxus Dreyar and the beautiful Evergreen." shouted out a familiar voice from the other side of the bar. The two new guests looked over at the booth and were shocked to see not just one pink haired person like they expected but two. One of them of course was Natsu, who was the one to call out their names, while the other was a woman that neither of them knew and was sitting on his lap with her arms around him.

"So I take it these are two of your ex-guild members?" asked the lady with a smirk as she grabbed Natsu's chin and forced him to look at her in the eyes. And rather than replying like Laxus and Evergreen expected him to Natsu brought her into a heated kiss that only stopped because of Laxus letting out a cough as he and Ever stood right in front of the booth.

"Yes they are, granted we never really got to know each other that well since they like most of the guild looked down on me. But they were still what I once considered my family, feel free to take a seat you two since I assume this visit is for business and isn't for pleasure." said Natsu with a sly grin as he looked at the two. Amused by the look of sheer shock on Evergreen's face thanks to what she just saw, which shocked Laxus probably even more, but he was able to keep that hidden better than her.

"You would be correct about that Natsu, or do you prefer to be called Salamander now days?" asked Laxus as he took a seat with Ever quietly taking the one right next to him, still trying to get over the sight of Natsu making out with Ikargua.

"Honestly I don't care one way or the other on those two." He replied while gesturing for the barmaid to get them a round of drinks.

"Aren't you going to introduce us?" asked Ikaruga with a clearly fake pouting face that caused Natsu to roll his eyes at her. Knowing that she just enjoyed messing with people and making them think she had him wrapped around her finger, which she kind of did since he couldn't really hurt her. But after they officially sealed that they were mates she found out that the same thing could now be said about her with regards to him.

"Ikaruga I'd like you to meet Laxus Dreyar and Evergreen of Fairy Tail as you already know. And you two I'd like to introduce you to Ikaruga, my mate." he announced and initiated another kiss with her. That was once again interrupted, but this time by Evergreen who looked completely shocked and a little scared now.

"Ikaruga, as in the sword mistress of Death's Head Caucus the dark guild, only comprised of deadly assassins?" She asked while pointing at the woman on Natsu's lap with a shaking finger.

"Yep, but I'm going to need a new form of identification since my old guild no longer exists anymore." replied Ikaruga as she smiled at Natsu lovingly. Her knowing that there weren't many men out there that would willingly take on a whole dark guild just for a single woman.

"So it's true that they were eliminated a few days ago." said Laxus with a slight grin.

"Damn, news always spreads faster than I ever expect it to." he stated with an even bigger grin than the one Laxus currently had.

"That it does, and from what I know about Death's Head Caucus failure isn't acceptable. So how is it that you're still alive right now after apparently not completing your last job?" asked Laxus as he looked at Ikaruga and Natsu.

"Well aren't you a surprisingly well informed light mage, information like that is definitely not easy to come by just anywhere." she stated as she now decided to inspect the former guild member of her mate.

"Any good mage makes sure to know what's happening around the country and even farther, and that also includes what the dark guilds are up to. So would you care to explain how you're still alive and apparently mates with Natsu?" he asked again in a more commanding tone. Only to finally realize what the rest of his team meant about Natsu now being different, because the next second he had the urge to flee which in itself is something that he rarely feels. But along with it was an unbearable heat and an overwhelming amount of magic coming from a now growling pink haired dragon slayer.

"I'll only say this once, no one and I mean absolutely no one commands my mate to do anything she doesn't want to." he growled out, clearly picking up on Laxus's slightly commanding voice and having none of it.

"And any dragon slayer worth anything knows about out mating habits and what comes along with them." he finished while looking directly into the other dragon slayer's eyes. It took every ounce of restraint that Laxus had to not reach over and lay into the smug brat, but he was only able to refrain from doing it since he still wanted to use Natsu against the rest of Fairy Tail.

The two sat there quietly glaring at each other for the next few minutes and it was only broken as the barmaid brought them back their drinks that Natsu thanked her for. "Well to answer your question Laxus, I'm still alive thanks to Natsu here and you should be smart enough to figure out how he did that." said Ikaruga with a smirk as she gave Natsu a quick kiss on the cheek. Both of them watching as Laxus quickly figured out what she meant and then had a slightly impressed grin go over his face as they all then turned to look at Evergreen.

"You've got to be joking; just the two of you took out the rest of your guild?" shouted out Ever as she looked at the two with sheer shock.

"Honestly I didn't really do much more than point my handsome dragon here in the right direction and sit back as he dealt with them." she replied with a smug grin as Evergreen looked at Natsu as if he was possibly one of the scariest things she had ever seen before.

"As fun as it is to watch Evergreen freak out like this, didn't the two of you come here to offer me a job?" asked Natsu as he looked at Laxus with a blank look.

"That we did, it's the same one that the Thunder Legion talked with you about earlier." he replied with a wicked grin coming over his face as he imagined the site of his grandpa in a few days.

"I figured as much, so the same rules apply as I said before except that Juvia is now included into the group of people you can't touch." stated Natsu as he continued to watch Laxus.

"Like hell, she can actually fight unlike the other two." argued Evergreen as she glared at him, glad that he was apparently more concerned with watching Laxus right now. Otherwise she was confident that she wouldn't have been able to glare at him at all like she currently was.

"Those are my terms, and if you don't like them then I might just go and see if Fairy Tail would be interested in hiring me to deal with the little coup that their Master's grandson is trying to pull." he replied while not breaking eye contact with Laxus, who he was surprised to see not even flinch a little bit at his little threat.

"You wouldn't dare." she hissed at him, only to find a blade firmly pressed against her throat. Curtesy of Ikaruga who seemed to find all of this very amusing, and probably wanted it to blow up so she could let loose and also let her mate have a little fun.

"If you truly don't think that he would do that then you really don't know him at all. Because the one thing he cares about almost as much as jewels is getting to have a good fight, which he probably won't get from the rest of his old guild. But judging from how the two of them have been eyeing each other this whole time I think he might get a little bit of amusement from throwing down with your boyfriend there." stated Ikaruga with an amused smirk smugly spread across her lips.

"He's not my boyfriend." she hissed back, wishing that she could reach her glasses and turn the both of them to stone. But she wasn't dumb enough to believe that she could beat a master swordswoman in speed, especially with a blade already at her throat.

"Sorry to hear that, you are truly missing out if he's even half as capable as Natsu is." replied Ikaruga with a little wink. This made poor Evergreen loss it and become a complete and utter wreck as her face became beat red at what Ikaruga was hinting at.

"I'm fine with that Natsu, so how much is it going to cost for the two of you to help us out? And I am saying two since I believe I'm correct in assuming that she will probably not want to leave your side anytime soon." he asked with a small smile.

"You'd be correct about that, and before I give you an amount what exactly to you want us to do?" Natsu asked back with a small smile of his own as the tension almost completely faded way between the group. Well for all except for Evergreen who was still held at sword point right now, which was then remedied by Natsu a few seconds later.

"It's really quite simple, all you two will need to do is walk around Magnolia and defeat any member of Fairy Tail that you happen to run into. Other than that there really isn't much for you two to do for the day." he stated with a smug grin, already imagining what Fairy Tail will be like once he's the Master.

"If that's really all we have to do, then how does two million jewels sound to you Laxus?" asked Natsu as he leaned against the back of the booth and brought Ikaruga with him.

"That's actually cheaper than what I expected." he replied while taking out two wads of jewels, that were a million apiece and tossing them onto the table.

"I could raise it if you wanted me too, but from what you just told me this job should be pretty easy to do. Well unless Gildarts happens to show up randomly, and if he did that would just mean I get to finally have a real fight with him." said Natsu as he grabbed both of the wads and gave them a quick once over to make sure they were legit.

"Two is definitely more than enough and I'm confident that he won't be back anytime soon. Well I guess that is about it since I have a few more things to prepare before this all finally goes down." Laxus said as he and Evergreen got out of the booth.

"So when do we need to be in Magnolia for all of this?" he asked before the two could turn to leave.

"In two days by noon should be perfect, oh and you might want to sit back for a little bit and enjoy the show that I have planned." replied Laxus with a little chuckle as they left the tavern that had become a little deserted after Natsu let out his magic earlier.

"Are you sure you really want to do this Natsu?" asked Ikaruga as she looked at him, trying to hide how concerned she was for him right now.

"I would rather not, but if I do I can make sure that the asshole doesn't hurt any of the members that I still care about there." he replied with a determined look on his face as he stared at the door Laxus exited through.

"If you say so." she said before letting out a little yelp of surprise. Not expecting him to pick her up bridal style and start heading towards the door with a mischievous smirk being displayed for all to see.

"I do, so why don't we head there now and get ready for a little bit of fun." he declared before they too left the tavern that had somewhat became Natsu's base of operation while he was in this part of the country.

 **End of Chapter**

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it and would love to hear your thoughts on it. So as you can all see the next chapter will be the fighting festival, that you can also see will definitely play out differently than canon for some obvious reasons. Now I guess this would also be the time to suggest a few fights that you would like to possibly see in the next chapter and I'll see what I can do. As always feel free to drop me a review or pm and I'll try to get back to you as quick as I can.**

 **Oh and if you would like me to update faster or possibly start a new story I have information about my page that I set up on my profile page.**

 **Until the next Chapter**

 **Digem Out!**


	12. Let the Fighting Begin

Ch 12: Let the Fighting Begin

 **Day before the Fantasia Parade:**

Magnolia was just like any other city in the country, which meant that even they had a slightly rundown area where most of the low lives would gather. And in that area of Magnolia there were more than enough taverns to accommodate all the ruffians that tried to drown away their sorrows. But currently one of those said taverns was completely empty except for the terrified bartender and his only two customers, who were currently in one of the booths all over each other. It also looked like they had no plans of stopping anytime soon, that is until one of them caught the approaching scent of someone he hadn't seen in a while and didn't expect to be here of all places.

So Natsu reluctantly pried the pink haired beauty off of him and looked at the entrance of the bar with a crooked grin spread across his lips. "Well if it isn't former Councilwoman Ultear, what brings you to a rundown place like this?" he asked as soon as the door opened and all that you could see was the outline of an unknown figure.

"You know damn well that you're the reason I'm here Natsu." the lady replied as she pulled down her hood so that the dragon slayer could see how upset she was with him. Unfortunately for Ultear it definitely didn't have the desired effects that she wanted since his grin only got larger at seeing her expression.

"I assumed it was to talk with me, but I still don't know why you need to talk to me. Especially since you are no longer a member of the Council and have been declared a dark mage." he stated before taking a shot of fire whisky and slamming the glass back down on the table.

"That is all true, but considering the agreement we reached last time we saw each other I thought you would at least try and contact me by now." she stated while walking towards their booth and still glaring at him.

"Natsu darling, who exactly is this whore?" asked Ikaruga with a smirk as she hopped back onto Natsu's lap, enjoying how clearly upset Ultear already was with her.

"If I wasn't here on official business I would enjoy breaking every bone in that pretty little body of yours." Ultear growled back as she slammed her hands down on the table and glared at the infuriating sword mistress before her.

"Oh she thinks I'm pretty Natsu." she stated back causing Natsu to chuckle at how easy Ikaruga could get under someone's skin.

"That's it Bitch!" declared Ultear as her orb flew at Ikaruga in the blink of an eye. But before it could even reach her a flaming red hand grabbed it and crushed it and burnt the ruble to ashes that slowly fell to the table.

"Enough you two, I will have my mates fighting against each other while I'm right there." he said in a deep and rumbling voice that brought all attention to him. "Ultear this is Ikaruga, I met her on my last job for the Council which just so happened to be dealing with that bastard Jellal. And Ikaruga, this is Ultear she is the one that gave me so much information on Jellal and his tower." he explained while Ultear hesitantly took the seat across from them.

"Interesting, if that is the case than my first assumptions about you might have been wrong." replied Ikaruga as she smirked at Ultear, who was still a little shocked by being called one of Natsu's mates. And the reason she was shocked about that was due to her extensively looking for anything she could find on dragon slayers after she and Natsu almost went at it in her office.

Needless to say she found out a lot thanks to her still being a member of the Council at the time, and anything that they didn't have Grimoire Heart seemed to inexplicably have. And one of those books happened to be about the mating habits of dragons and how it was theorized that the same thing would apply to their slayers. Such things as the male becoming extremely protective of his mates and would literally fight for them until his last breath. Or supposedly that the mates developed an eternal bond with each other that no matter what happened it couldn't be broken and they could always find each other no matter how far apart they might be.

"Does this happen a lot with her?" asked Ikaruga as she waved her hand in front of Ultear's face and got zero recognition from the time mage. Who for the last minute was staring off with a blank expression, most likely lost in some deep thoughts of hers.

"This is the first time I've ever seen her do something like this." stated Natsu as he scratched his chin in thought until he snapped his fingers as a grin spread across his lips. "I think she might be slightly surprised about finding out that she is one of my mates, and knowing her she probably looked into dragon slayers and found out what a relationship like that might entitle for her." he replied while gently removing Ikaruga from his lap and sliding over to the purple haired beauty.

"What are you going to do?" she asked not liking the mischievous grin that the dragon slayer currently had.

"I'm just going to give my other mate an appropriate greeting." he stated before twisting Ultear's head towards him and quickly capturing her lips with his. This seemed to do the trick at breaking the woman out of her current though, because she instantly reciprocated the kiss back and the two picked up exactly from where they left off before in Ultear's office. This made Ikaruga's eyes widen in surprise that the two seemed to have completely forgotten about her, or that they were currently in a public place at the moment.

"Damn you two go get a room for crying out loud." she stated as the two were already in the process of stripping the other of their restricting clothing. Natsu had already lost his coat and his vest was soon going to be discarded as well thanks to the woman on top of him looking as if her life depended on the kiss they were currently having. And the only thing that Ultear lost so far during their intense lip lock at the moment was her cloak, which was hiding her knew attire that was her Grimoire Heart battle suit that was skin tight and showed off all her curves.

"Those two can't do that in here." mumbled the man behind the bar, still too afraid to move from his spot that Natsu had told him to remain at until he asked for another drink.

"Considering that you know who the three of us are it would be wise to let us do whatever we please if you want to make it out of here in one piece." stated Ikaruga as she went to the bar and took the stool right in front of him. She did this for two reasons, the first was she needed a drink while the second one was that she really didn't want to have a front row seat to whatever those two were about to do with each other.

"Okay, but when you two came here yesterday I got the impression that you two were an item." replied the bartender as he got out the drink that she had been ordering since they arrived.

"We are and what exactly are you trying to get at?" she asked back as the man looked at her and then back to the two in booth with an incredulous look.

"Are you really okay with him doing something like that with another woman?" he asked as quietly as possible, hoping that Natsu was too busy having fun to be listening in on their conversation.

"As hard as it might be to believe, I actually am." she replied before taking a sip of her drink. "Our relationship is different than most out there because of who he is, and even if that wasn't the case I would still be fine with this if it was what he wanted." she finished and proceeded to down the rest of her drink and placed it back down on the counter for a refill.

"What did Salamander do to get such loyalty from a gorgeous woman as yourself?" he asked only to let out a little shriek at the deep growl emanating from the both and the slight change in temperature. This surprisingly caused Ikaruga to actually start giggling at the man and now terrified he was of the new Natsu, knowing that the old Natsu never would have gotten a reaction out of him like that.

"He saved my life and gave me a new purpose in life." she replied while grabbing her new drink and getting up.

"I guess that is an okay reason, but I still think most women wouldn't be okay with whatever this is." he said while quickly glancing over at the two still making out like horny teens.

"Then it's a good thing I'm not like most women, oh and if those two ever stop long enough for you to get a word in tell Natsu that I went for a little stroll." she said with a smirk once again spread across her luscious red lips before slipping out the front doors.

"Shit." mumbled the bartender as he looked back at Natsu and Ultear. Ultear was currently being held up by a now standing Natsu, with her legs wrapped around him as she continued to make out with him while running one of her hands through his hair as the other one was wrapped around his back. But to his surprise they separated and unfortunately for the bartender Natsu was now glaring at him, almost causing him to piss himself right then and there.

"We're going up to my room and we are not to be bothered under any circumstances." he growled out as he started to carry Ultear towards the stairs.

"W-well Salamander Sir, y-your other…" stuttered out the man.

"I know, I heard everything and I mean everything." replied Natsu as he gave the man one last glare before heading up the stairs. The poor bartender became extremely pale after hearing that, only to flinch as the unmistakable sounds of one of his doors being kicked off its hinges rang out from upstairs. That was when he finally realized that he was going to have to stand there and listen to the two of them since he didn't get the okay to leave his post at the bar, and the last thing he wanted to do right now was make Natsu madder than he already has at him.

"Someone seems to be in a hurry." remarked Ultear with a smirk as she looked at the remains of the door Natsu just kicked down in his rush.

"I wasn't the one that started this Ultear." stated Natsu as he gently dropped her onto the bed while still having her pinned between his arms. The exact place that Ultear definitely wanted to be at right now and would probably kill the next person that might ruin this for her.

"You kissed me first." she declared as her smirk became a sultry grin that was just begging him to go back to what they were doing just moments ago. And luckily for her the dragon slayer was more than happy to oblige, but this time he decided to not focus on her mouth like he was before. No, this time Natsu decided he would focus on the rest of the stunning woman's body as he started to kiss her neck and work his way down.

"We really should discuss business first." she said, but was hoping that he would ignore her and continue making her feel like she was the only thing that mattered to him right now.

"Are you sure that's what you really want, because everything else about you is saying otherwise." he replied as he pulled back and finally noticed the change in her outfit. One that he had to admit made her look really good, but there was something about that kimono of hers that he really liked.

"This isn't like me, I'm not usually like this." responded Ultear with a slight blush, knowing that she wasn't actually like this usually. But ever since she and Natsu first kissed way back when, he for some reason was always in the back of her mind.

Hearing her like this brought a smile to Natsu's face as he looked down at her. "I know, it just means that we both feel the same way about each other so our feelings are only getting stronger until we finally complete the whole mating ritual thin." he said and was shocked that her blush actually deepened after hearing that.

"So will I get some of your abilities after this, or was all of that a lie?" she asked back with a smirk that Natsu realized he loved seeing on either of his confirmed mates.

"There is really only one way to truly find that out now isn't there." he replied as grin spread across his lips as he looked at her lustfully. "But for that we have to first get rid of this new outfit of yours." he continued in a slightly disappointed tone, something that she picked up on.

"Do you not like it?" she asked, finding it hard to believe since it really showed off her figure.

"It's fine, but I think I'm more of a fan of that kimono you used to wear." he answered once again grinning back at her as he snapped a finger and deep crimson flames sprung up on her clothing. This caused Ultear to let out a little yelp of surprise, but to her amazement the flames didn't hurt at all and only seemed to be affecting her outfit. "But I definitely think this is your best outfit yet." finished Natsu right after his flames disposed of all her clothing and left her in the nude.

"If I couldn't bring those back any second I wanted to I would be really upset with you Natsu." she replied while having a huge boost to her confidence thanks to the way he was checking her out. "So are you just going to stare at me all day or are we actually going to have a little fun?" she asked in an extremely seductive voice that snapped the dragon slayer back to reality.

"Honestly I really could have looked at you like this all day, but you're right. There are way better things for the two of us to do for the rest of the day." he declared before picking up right where he left off on his trek down her well-toned body. Once again making the time mage underneath him feel like she was his everything at the moment, which was actually true since he could sense that his other mate was completely fine right then.

"Natsu, not that I want to rush anything but I aaaahhhh!" started Ultear until the man finally reached his intended destination and caused her to buck her hips into his face and let out a pleasurable moan as he continued his ministrations on her nether region with more skill than she ever expected him to have.

It was just after her pleasurable moan rang out that one of the tavern's usual patrons stepped in to find it completely empty, except for the owner behind the bar. But before the new arrival could ask what was going on more moans could be heard from upstairs, making the man even more confused. Looking to the owner, he was greeted with a terrified expression as his old friend mouthed the words run for it while trying to shoo him out of the bar without making a sound.

This didn't seem to be enough to scare away the new arrival who appeared to be amused by the sounds of the love making that was currently taking place above them. And judging by the sounds that they were currently hearing it was starting to get really good for the woman just as he took a seat at the bar.

"Why in the world are you scared?" he asked with a wide smirk.

"Salamander." whispered the bartender as he glanced upwards as if just saying his name was going to bring the man crashing through the floor.

"He's back in town?" asked the man now looking surprised by this new piece of information.

"Yes and all those rumors going around about him are all true." replied the bartender once again just barely loud enough for his longtime friend and customer to hear him.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" he shouted out only for his friend to lunge at him and cover his mouth while looking at the stairs expectantly.

"I'm not, and he is currently responsible for my place being like this. He also made it crystal clear that if Fairy Tail learned of his presence here that those responsible will never be the same after he's done with them." whispered the bartender as he slowly removed his hands from his friend's mouth. "And I know that he wasn't joking because the first thing he did when he came in here was beat the living shit out of Zek and the rest of his gang. All because they thought it would be funny to call him a fairy since you know how the rumors say he loses it when someone does that. Well guess what, he does lose it but in the sense that he no longer cares if you are reduced to a near death state." he explained while still every once and a while looking up to the ceiling cautiously.

"Fuck, I honestly thought all those things about him changing this much were nothing but lies. But if you're saying they aren't then they must be true." replied the man now having a slightly scared look on his face.

"Yeah so if I was you I would get the hell out of here while you still can and tell everyone that you know that I'm closed for the day." he said with a completely serious expression.

"Will do, but why are you still here if you're that terrified of him?" asked his friend as he got back up from the barstool.

"Because he told me to serve him drinks and the last thing I want to do is go against the man responsible for taking out two Wizard Saints by himself." he stated while not being able to contain the shiver that ran through his body at the thought of what might happen to him if he did.

"Oh come on, we all know about him dealing with Master Jose but who in the hell did he take out after him?" asked the friend with a stunned expression since this was new news to him.

"I don't know but I saw him playing with two of their medallions so he has definitely taken on another one since then." responded the bartender while he shook his head.

"Shit, and to think that a few months ago he was just a regular member of Fairy Tail and not even considered one of their strongest." he pointed out while heading towards the exit.

"Well if Salamander was a member now I'm confident that he would without a doubt be one of their strongest." stated the bartender right before his friend departed through the doors with a little chuckle. Once again leaving him all alone to wait and listen to what was going on above him until the two love birds told him to do otherwise.

 **With Ikaruga:**

Currently the sword mistress was aimlessly walking the streets of Magnolia with no purpose other than to get a better understanding of its layout. And from what she could tell the city was actually one of the more organized ones that she's ever seen, not only that but was also probably overall nicer than most as well. Because their slums if you could even call them that, were equivalent to the fancy distracts of a few other places she's visited across the country.

"I'm surprised that this is where Natsu used to live." she thought as she started to walk into the city's main market. "He seems too rough and unrefined to belong in a place like this, but then again he did say that he actually lived in the woods outside of here. And that definitely seems more in character with what I know about him, I definitely wouldn't mind finding out more about how he used to be while we're here." she continued to think to herself as she perused some of the vendor's stalls that she walked by.

"Considering what we're going to be doing tomorrow this might be one of the few chances I have to actually find out about the old him." she stated out loud as her usual smirk came over her face, causing a few of the vendors to become slightly nervous. "I've got a question for you." she said coming to a stop in front of a man selling a wide assortment of meats.

"And what would that be Ma'am?" he asked back with a kind smile.

"Did you happen to ever run into Natsu Dragneel while he was still a member of Fairy Tail?" asked Ikaruga with a pleasant smile that actually put the man at ease.

"Yes I did, he and that cat of his were actually some of my best customers." he replied with a smile that quickly turned to a frown at the mention of Happy. Since it became common knowledge for most of the people in Magnolia what happened to the poor little Exceed after the incident with Phantom Lord and why Natsu brutally killed their Master like he did.

"Would you mind telling me more about those two?" she asked with only a faint smile, because she knew how the mere mention of Happy was a taboo when around Natsu.

"Sure, but why are you interested in something like that?" he asked her back with an eyebrow raised questioningly.

"I'm just curious about how he used to be before that terrible incident happened to the two of them. Since the person I know now is nowhere close to being similar to what he supposedly used to be like." she explained once again giving the man a pleasant smile. Who gave her a sympathetic smile and then started to tell her a few memories he had of the troublesome duo, and as he continued his smile only grew with each passing minute.

 **A few hours later at Fairy Tail:**

"It sure looks like this year's festival is going to be one of the best ones yet." said a random guild member as they walked past the bar that currently had the remnants of Team Natsu and Mira at it.

"It definitely won't be as exciting as it usually is with Natsu not being here." stated Mira as she lost her smile while she continued to clean out a mug.

"You're telling me, now who am I supposed to fight." mumbled Gray before he took a large swig from his mug.

"For once I would give almost anything to walk in on the two of you tearing apart the guild in one of your stupid brawls." replied Erza as a faint smile spread across her lips as she thought about all the times that something like that exactly happened. But she soon lost it when she once again realized that it was very unlikely for any of those things to happen again.

"Don't give up hope on him just yet Erza, he did save you from that tower didn't he." said Levy as she joined the group with a tender smile.

"He did, but that was three weeks ago and I haven't heard anything about him since then." she stated while locking eyes with the guild's book worm.

"From what I gather while talking about that incident with everyone involved in it except for you that is, Natsu once again took out a really strong opponent. So maybe he's just taking it easy like he did when the Council arrested him for his actions against Phantom Lord." suggested Levy still having her smile.

"That seems reasonable to me." commented Gray as he motioned for Mira to get him another drink.

"Levy's right Erza, from what I heard he spent the first week of his time in jail asleep and recovering from his fight with Jose." said Mira as she gave Gray another mug of beer.

"You're all probably right, but this time the only person he had with him was her." replied the scarlet haired knight in a deep growl.

"From what Gray told me those two had some sort of weird relationship, so I'm confident that she didn't do anything bad to him and probably just looked after him until he recovered." suggested Lucy, hoping that this might calm down her friend.

"For the love of god please don't say anything like that if Juvia is around." whispered Gray as he fearfully looked around for the water mage.

This type of response out of the usually calm and collected ice mage made most of them start laughing at him. "Are you still afraid of her after what happened when those two faced off against each other?" asked Mira, who really enjoyed hearing Gray tell it because he made it sound like Juvia was possessed during the fight with the sword mistress.

"Of course I am, none of you were there to see her go and flip out on that pink haired assassin after she made a few comments about Natsu." he replied while still making sure Juvia didn't accidentally hear him.

"Come on Gray it really couldn't have been that bad." stated Lucy, who unfortunately had to go up against Juvia that day. But luckily she was actually able to use said woman's body to summon Aquarius, which then let her win the fight that she had been thoroughly losing up till that point.

"No I'm being completely serious here, right now I'm scared of her way more than anyone else in the guild." he said with a completely serious expression that didn't even falter under the glare he was now receiving from Erza.

"Is that possibly the reason you are no longer using your colorful nicknames for Natsu anymore?" asked Mira with a smug grin as everyone finally realized that ever since that day Gray has always referenced Natsu by his actual name.

"Holy crap, what in the world did she have done to make you of all people that afraid of her?" asked Levy with a shocked expression that was almost unanimously shared by everyone else.

"I've already told you guys, but for some reason none of you believed me." he replied while resting his head against the counter.

"Stripper's right, you really don't want to ever be seen as an enemy of that woman." stated Gajeel as he took a seat at the bar and was promptly given a tray of scrap metal by Mira. While Levy and a few others were startled that he was actually talking to them, since after recovering from his beat down at the hands of Natsu he pretty much stayed to himself.

"Duly noted Gajeel, so what brings you to the guild when usually at this time you're out on a job?" asked the barmaid with a bright smile since it seemed like no one else was going to say anything to him. They were all just frozen in place still looking at him with shocked expressions.

"I was about to head home, when I passed through the market distract and I overheard someone asking questions about him. And given how things where left between the two of us I decided that it would be in my best interest to find out what this woman wanted with him." he replied while still chewing on a bolt.

"By him, do you mean Natsu?" asked Erza, knowing that the slight flash of fear she saw in the dragon slayer's eyes could only be attributed to Natsu after he almost killed him.

"Yep, and I followed her for a while and she only seemed to be interested in his past. Oh and she is definitely well trained since she almost noticed me more times than I would like to admit." he answered before tossing a few more chunks of metal into his mouth.

"What did she look like and how long ago did all of the happen?" she asked now having a stern expression as she looked at him. Once again she reminded everyone gathered around her why she was feared and never to be trifled with, because the aura she was currently giving off at the moment was terrifying.

"I saw her only just a few minutes ago, and she definitely had a few on lookers given her figure. Not to mention that kimono she was wearing and that long pink hair of hers that really makes her stick out." he replied only for Erza to become even more furious as she turned away from him and started to stomp straight towards the exit.

"Erza where are you going?" asked Lucy, finding her reaction to the woman's description odd.

"I'm going to get rid of the trash that is poking around in our city and possibly finding out more information on Natsu while I'm at it." she replied before stepping out of the guildhall.

"Wait for me Erza!" shouted Lucy as she stood up to go after her but was shocked when Mira gently grabbed her and prevented her from chasing after her.

"That probably wouldn't be wise Lucy." replied the barmaid with a small frown.

"And why not?" she asked back since she had rarely seen Erza so upset before.

"From what I could tell, the woman that Gajeel was talking about was none other than Ikaruga. That assassin that almost killed Gray and Juvia, who also from what Erza told me could have done the same thing to her. But because of her contract she didn't, and so she let Erza go past her so that she could confront Natsu and then Jellal." answered Mira as she tried to regain her usual smile.

"Then we should really go and stop her." declared Gray as Lucy nodded in agreement.

"And then have Erza upset about possibly stopping a fight to regain her honor as a member of our guild." stated Mira as she gave the two a glare that caused both of them to sit back down. After hearing who said woman was Gajeel let out a long whistle as he shook his head, easily getting all of the attention back on him.

"Do you have something to say Gajeel?" asked Levy in an extremely nervous tone, but was trying her best to accept him into their guild like she would with anyone else.

"Nope." he replied as he looked at all of them now having expressions that clearly said they didn't believe him. "Fine, but none of this can get back to Juvia or Titania." he said after letting out a long sigh. "While I was following this woman that you say is the infamous assassin Ikaruga, I picked up someone else's scent all over her. And when I finally got closer to her and in the process almost got caught I finally realized that it belonged to him." he finished while looking away from them hopping that it would be the end of it.

"She had Natsu's scent all over her?" asked Lucy with a confused expression, while the other women of their small group figured it out right away. Levy started to blush up a storm while Mira on the other hand looked a little upset about hearing this, but she quickly adopted one of her usual smiles to hide it before anyone but Gajeel noticed it.

"You can't be serious Gajeel." stated Gray, who also had a really good idea what Gajeel was hinting at.

"I am Stripper and it's even more serious than any of you are probably thinking, which is why I don't want Juvia of all people to learn about this next part." he replied while also quickly checking for the water mage. "She's his mate, and before you even ask how I know this all I'm going to say is it's a dragon slayer thing and I would bet my life that I'm correct on it." he stated with a glare sent at them, which reminded all of them who they were actually talking with right now.

"Shit!" replied Gray as a look of horror came over his face. "For the love of god Juvia can't find out about this, she went crazy after Ikaruga just suggested that she was going to have sex with Natsu. Just imagine how she would react to finding out that not only did they do that but they're now mates as well." he said while shaking his head while resting it in his hands.

"THEY HAD SEX!" yelled Lucy in shock, easily getting the attention of the whole guild. But luckily that was remedied by the glares of an extremely angry dragon slayer and barmaid, causing most of the guild to clear out in fear of being accused by the two for eavesdropping even if they weren't.

"I knew I shouldn't have said anything while blondie was still here." growled out Gajeel as he glared at the now terrified celestial mage.

"I can understand you not wanting Juvia to find out about this, but why are you also not wanting to let Erza know about this either?" asked Mira, who usually would have helped the poor blonde. But a little part of her believed that she deserved the glare Gajeel was sending at her for yelling out something that sensitive like an idiot.

"I don't know Titania that well, but what I have noticed is that she definitely cares about him a lot. How much she cares about him I honestly don't know, but given her brutal tendencies I thought it would be a smart idea to play it safe." he explained while still glaring at Lucy.

"But don't you think we should at least tell those two something?" asked Levy in the hopes of getting Gajeel to stop scaring Lucy like he was. And to her and everyone else's shock it worked as Gajeel's expression became softer as he looked at the woman he didn't make very good first impressions with.

"I think Titania already knows enough, and I actually came here in hopes of telling Juvia about someone asking around about her man. Because if she ever found out that I didn't tell her, I am afraid to even think what she would do to me." he answered as Gray nodded his head in agreement, knowing exactly why the dragon slayer wanted to remain on Juvia's good side.

"Unfortunately she decided to complete one last job before the festivities of tomorrow and won't be back until later today." said Mira with her usual smile, while she was now wondering if Erza had secret feelings for Natsu. Or was she that worked up because of him saving her a little while ago and still viewed him as a younger brother.

"Then I guess I'm going to wait around for her until then, oh and are you sure about that woman being Ikaruga?" he asked once again going back to eating scrap metal.

"From how you described her I'm fairly confident it's her." stated Gray.

"Not only that, but Erza's reaction really supports that conclusion as well." said Mira now intrigued by the dragon slayer's skepticism at the lady being Ikaruga.

"Hmmm, I wonder if she is responsible for what happened to her old guild." Gajeel mumbled to himself as he tossed another piece of metal into his mouth.

"And what exactly happened to her guild?" asked Makarov, making most of them jump at his sudden appearance while now questioning how long he had been listening in on them.

"From what I heard on my way back from my last job, is that someone or group went to great lengths to completely destroy Death's Head Caucus. And considering that she was one of their more well-known members I would have thought she'd be definitely one of the first taken out." he answered while looking over at the elderly guild master.

"Interesting, do you happen to know what the going rumor for who is responsible for it is?" asked Makarov now having a thoughtful expression on his face.

"The most common one is that he's responsible for it, but I was assuming that it was just the public adding another thing to the rumors already going around about him. That is until I met the woman that you all think is Ikaruga, because if she is her than I can definitely see a dragon slayer doing something like that for his mate given how that group dealt with members leaving." replied Gajeel, clearly still not liking anything that had to do with the fire dragon slayer that dominated him in their first real fight.

"I wish I could say that Natsu couldn't be responsible for something like that, but given the official reports from the Council about some of his other activities that is no longer possible." he said while giving Mira a knowing look, both wondering if this had anything to do with Natsu's weird relationship with the Council. That unfortunately for him didn't get cleared up in the slightest after talking with Yajima for a few long hours the other day.

"Come on, you can't honestly believe that Natsu would do something like this." stated Gray as he and a few others shared the same viewpoint. "I mean killing those responsible for Happy's death is one thing, but him just killing a whole group like this is not even on the same page." he finished while Lucy and Levy nodded their heads in agreement.

"Actually Gray I believe he might be okay with doing this so something like what happened to Happy won't happen to this Ikaruga woman. Especially if she's his mate like Gajeel says she is, I don't believe Natsu could handle losing someone like that again." said Makarov with a guilty look coming over his face again, because he honestly still felt like he was to blame for all that has happened to the dragon slayer recently.

"Wait Master, you said something about reports pertaining to Natsu's other activities?" asked Levy.

"Yes, apparently he's done a few odd bounty hunting jobs that no one else seemed to want to take for various reasons. And each time he's chosen to bring back his bounty no longer alive, of course the contract allowed that since every one of them was extremely dangerous. But according to some of the witnesses Natsu had them already subdued and decided to finish them off for some reason." he explained, not liking the looks that they were all giving him after hearing this.

"He probably did that to ensure they wouldn't cause any problems for him later on, and considering he's all alone now that is the smartest action for him to take." stated Gajeel, shocking most of them that he seemed to be defending Natsu's actions. "Hey, I'm just saying what I would be doing if I was in his shoes and could only make any real amount of jewels hunting down dangerous individuals." he said after clearly picking up on their shocked expressions and surprised looks.

"But to kill them after he's already defeated them." stated Lucy with a disgusted look coming over her face.

"When the alternative is them trying to kill you when you eventually fall asleep, I know that I would do the same thing as he did." stated Gajeel as he got up and started to walk away from them.

"Gajeel you don't need to leave, most of us have never been in a position like that so it's still hard to wrap our heads around. Especially when one of the nicest person most of us have ever known is now doing something like that." explained Levy, thinking that he was now leaving because of them not wanting to accept his rationalization behind why Natsu killed them.

"Gihi, don't get your panties in a bunch Shrimp. I was only getting up to go and take a leak." he replied while giving her a quick grin that was actually not as menacing as it usually is.

"Even if that was his reasoning behind it, Natsu should have come up with a different solution." stated Gray with an upset expression. Trying to come to terms that his best friend was now apparently able to take someone's life like it was nothing. And he was also still trying to come to terms that Natsu was definitely stronger than him as well.

"That could very well be true Gray, but as Gajeel pointed out he is now on his own and doesn't have anyone else to rely on. Hopefully that will change and he won't go about needlessly killing anyone anymore." said Makarov with a small yet hopeful smile.

"If it is Ikaruga then I have a feeling he won't, I mean her profession up till now was an assassin." he pointed out.

"But what if Natsu changes her for the better." suggested Levy, who was hoping that was the case if the two actually were mates like Gajeel thought.

"You're right Levy, Natsu has always brought out the best in those around him." stated Lucy with a confident grin, which the others didn't have right now since he only did that while he was still a member of Fairy Tail.

"He's proven that he's capable to make it out there on his own, so why don't we start getting ready for our big day tomorrow." said Makarov as a small perverted smirk coming over his face as he imagined all the women that were going to be participating in the beauty pageant.

 **With Erza:**

"Where in the hell is she?" thought Erza as she scanned the market area she was at for any pink hair. And just like every time before this for the past hour she came up with nothing, so she decided that she might have to go about this a different way than her current method.

"Sir have you seen a pink haired woman around her recently, most likely asking questions about Natsu Dragneel?" she asked with what she thought was a pleasant expression, but in fact was just one of her not too severe ones.

"Actually someone like that just passed through here about ten minutes ago." he replied nervously as he pointed out a different vendor that talked with a woman that fit Erza's description.

"Why hello Ma'am, would you like to…" said the vendor thinking that Erza was a potential customer as she strode up to his stall with a purpose.

"Was a pink haired lady asking you questions about Natsu?" she asked while glaring at him since she didn't want to waste any more time than she already had.

"Yes Ma'am." he squeaked out only to see the knight still glaring at him with an impatient look on her face. "She talked with me since she knew that Natsu and Happy were regular consumers of pretty much all fish and meat vendors in the city." he continued, hoping that this was what she wanted to hear.

"And where did she go after your little chat?" asked Erza as she placed her hands on his stand with enough force to make all of his fish look like they just randomly jumped into the air for a bit.

"That way." he replied while pointing to the end of the market distract that Erza had yet to search.

"Thank you Sir and have a wonderful rest of your day." she replied while taking off in the direction that he pointed her in. And it only took her about two minutes until she saw a very distinct color of hair sticking out from the rest of the regular citizens of Magnolia.

"Hello there Erza, it seems like just yesterday that we had that little match of ours." said Ikaruga without even looking back at her.

"What are you doing here Ikaruga?" asked Erza as she slowly drew her sword and got ready for any attack her opponent might send her way.

"You probably shouldn't be so hasty there, because if you did the amount of innocent citizens most likely dying would be quite large." she stated as her usual smirk spread across her lips and the vendor she used to be talking to looked ready to take off for the hills if she could.

"I wouldn't let you harm any of them." growled out Erza as she started to advance on Ikaruga.

"You and I both know that you couldn't protect all of them Titania. Just look around, there are hundreds of innocent citizens walking around this market without a care in the world. But if you really want to fight me that much I don't mind getting my blade a little wet." replied Ikaruga as she turned around to finally look at Erza who was no longer advancing on her and only glaring at her in unbridled rage.

"You wouldn't dare." she hissed out, but decided to not test the other sword mistress while there were so many people around them.

"Oh but I would Titania, since I really have no reason to not mow down anyone that gets in my way while the two of us are fighting. But that actually makes me wonder why you even think facing me so soon would have a different result than our last encounter." stated Ikaruga as her eyes twinkled in pure joy at how angry her opponent was with her right now.

"Why are you here?" she asked while begrudgingly putting away her sword.

"I just wanted to see the place that Natsu used to consider his home and where he lived before he was forced out." answered Ikaruga as she started to walk and look at some of the other stalls scattered about.

"This is still his home and he was never forced to leave Magnolia." she hissed out between clenched teeth.

"I truly doubt that he would agree with you on that one Titania. And yes he technically wasn't forced out of Magnolia, but did you honestly think he would stick around the place that has all of his friends that he can no longer interact with like he used to?" asked Ikaruga as she came to a stop and glared right back at Erza.

"We would have still treated him the same." mumbled Erza only for Ikaruga to do a fake laugh at her statement.

"You just keep telling yourself that, so unless you want to have that fight and bring the rest of the town into it I think I'm going to be on my way again." she replied once again having that smug smirk of hers.

"Wait!" called out Erza, not really knowing what she was going to say next as the two locked eyes with each other for a few seconds in silence.

"Well as much as I enjoy gazing into your eyes Titania, I actually have better things to do with my day." she said while once again trying to leave the Fairy Tail wizard to herself.

"Where is he?" asked Erza in a louder voice than she intended.

"And who exactly are you talking about, because if you are referring to that Jellal fellow. Then he is safely sitting in one of the Council's cells waiting until they finally realize that it would be better if he was dead." she responded with a sly grin spreading across her lips as she watched Erza react to this new information. And for a brief second she saw a flash of relief go across Erza's face at finding out that he was still alive and well, or how that soon turned to anger when she heard what Ikaruga thought should be done with him.

"You know that is not who I was asking about." stated Erza as she continued glare at the infuriating woman.

"Honestly I don't know what that crazy head of yours is thinking right now." replied Ikaruga as the knight's expression became ever so slightly more pissed off at her.

"I'm asking about Natsu for crying out loud!" she shouted, mustering every ounce of her will power to not start attacking this woman.

"Oh Natsu, then why didn't you say so from the beginning Erza." said Ikaruga in a friendly tone as she smiled at the scarlet haired woman in front of her. "Well he's not here of course since things between him and the rest of your guild is still a little rocky." she finished with a wink.

"They are not rocky, if they were then why would he save all of us at the Tower of Heaven?" she countered, thinking back at how he really didn't have to do any of that if he didn't want to.

"Did you ever think that it still might be in his nature to help anyone he sees in danger?" Ikaruga asked back as she turned away from Erza and started to walk away.

"Of course it is, but that still doesn't make what he did for us that day any less meaningful." she declared, knowing that Natsu still did care about them since he almost killed himself to save them. Not to mention his slightly twisted way of making her realize that her life was still worth something, and that she needed to keep living for her friends which in her mind at least still included him.

"I guess you could be correct about him still caring about a few of you, but that definitely doesn't go for that Master of yours. I mean I've never seen someone get so upset at the mere mention of someone else's name, he actually put a man into the hospital for saying Makarov was possibly one of the best Masters out there." she stated in an amused tone as she continued on normally.

"He really did that?" asked Erza, hoping that it wasn't true because she was still hoping that the two could work everything out between the two of them.

"Yep, he might have actually killed him if I hadn't intervened when I did. So why are you so interested in Natsu and how he's currently doing? Could it be that the water mage of yours isn't the only one from your guild in love with him?" she asked with a bright smile as she twirled around and was now right in Erza's face.

"Of course not, I'm only asking because I'm his friend and this is what good friend does." mumbled Erza as she tried to hide the slight blush she got from such a wild accusation.

"Well that isn't fun, I would have enjoyed one of his mates being a woman as skilled with a sword as you are." she said while not noticing Erza's face becoming shocked and slightly a deeper red than before. "At least that way I would be able to spar with you on a more regular basis, but I guess the water mage and his new one will have to keep me entertained for now." she finished while turning around and seeing the current state Erza was in.

"Oh my, does talking about Natsu getting intimate with multiple women get you all Flustered Titania?" she asked with a little giggle as Erza was left speechless. "That's so adorable, well I wonder what your reaction would be if I went into vivid detail about what we've done with each other since you last saw him? Or how would you react when I tell you that right now he is making another women scream out his name and claiming her as one of his other mates?" asked Ikaruga as the knight's face was pretty much the same color as her hair.

"Well if you want Erza Scarlet, I'm pretty sure I could get him to let you in on the next session of love making." suggested Ikaruga as she giggled at Erza backing away from her while shaking her head frantically back and forth at the proposal.

"Absolutely not, I would never do anything like that." stammered out the blushing knight.

"You say that Erza, but your face is telling me that you aren't against it as much as you claim you are. Well I guess that just means more Natsu for me than." she replied as she went back to casually strolling through the market.

"If you're his mate, does that mean he is also in town?" asked Erza after taking a few moments to recompose herself.

"Just because we're mates now doesn't mean we're joined at the hips, even though that doesn't sound like that bad of an option." she replied with a sultry grin. "But as I was saying we both are free to do what we like, so no he's not here right now even though he really did enjoy this time of the year for some reason. Maybe it has something to do with that festival of yours happening tomorrow, which I hear is definitely going to be one to remember this year." she said with a mischievous glint in her eyes, right before she ducked down an alley way.

"Hold it!" shouted Erza as she chased after, but when she got to the alley it was completely empty. With only a few pink petals slowly falling to ground from some unknown source, making Erza believe that I might be some sort of calling card for the sword mistress.

"I really don't like the feeling I have in the pit of my stomach." she thought while heading to the guild. Wondering if Ikaruga was just trying to rile her up with everything she said, or was the woman telling her the truth while also possibly giving her a little warning at the end there.

 **With Natsu and Ultear:**

"That was… I don't even know what to call that." stated an out of breath and extremely sweaty Ultear as she flopped down onto the bed. And only a second later her pink haired lover followed after her, who also seemed to be in the same state as her.

"Amazing, Fantastic, Incredible, I could go on but it would get pretty repetitive." he replied while giving her smug grin.

"I'm willing to bet you would have run out of words if you continued for any longer." she said with a smug grin of her own as he gave her a slight glare that caused her to giggle. "But I do have to admit that it was definitely all of that and so much more." she finished while sliding over and resting her head on his chest.

"My only regret is that we didn't do this in your office like I wanted to." he said while slipping an arm around her and pulling her closer to him.

"I'm thinking the same thing." she murmured softly as she enjoyed her current position and the warmth and safety she felt while with him.

"But unfortunately you didn't put up your noise cancelling runes, I guess that just means we'll have to make up for the lost time." he said while giving her a sly grin.

"I'm all for that Natsu, but not right now. I honestly don't think I could handle something like that again without at least a few hours of rest." she responded while running one of her hands across his abs.

"I'm going to hold you to that Ultear." he said still grinning at her. "But didn't you claim you came here on business?" he asked with a serious looking coming over his face.

"Yes I did, but can we hold off on that discussion for a little while longer." she said while looking deeply into his eyes with a pleading look.

"Of course, so what do you want to do now?" he asked with a loving smile sent her way.

"I wouldn't mind just laying here and talking for a while." she answered while once again resting her head against his chest.

"Fine by me, but what exactly are we going to talk about?" he asked with a slight smirk, as the woman on his chest let out a tired sigh.

"We don't have to talk the whole time, can't we just lay here and enjoy this peace and quiet that we both rarely get." she stated, expecting for him to say something back. But after a few moments of silence she realized that he was actually listening to her and doing as she asked right away. And for the next few minutes the two of them just enjoyed being with each other while not doing or saying anything.

"Is it really smart for you to be in Magnolia of all places?" asked Ultear, deciding that they should probably start talking and eventually get to the reason why she was actually there.

"Considering I'm not classified as a dark mage I really don't have anywhere I can't be, unlike you currently do. And the bounties on my head are only for questioning about some of the incidents that I've been involved with. As for Fairy Tail, which I assume is your real reason for being concerned about me being here." he said while gazing into her beautiful eyes. "The best place to hide from someone is usually right under their nose, not that I'm hiding from them." Natsu finished as he started to trace circles on the time mage's back.

"I guess that all makes sense, but I'm honestly surprised that you weren't shunned by the Council after Jellal and I were exposed." she stated with a curious look coming over her face as she looked up at him.

"Right away most of them believed I was working for the two of you since you two were the ones fighting the hardest for me to possibly become a Wizard Saint. But luckily Yajima convinced them that I could prove my loyalty to them by bringing Jellal back to them alive. Even after that some of them still don't trust me, but apparently Yajima wasn't the only one in my corner since Gran Doma decided that I lived up to my end of our agreement." he explained.

"He seems to think that you are going to be a very important figure of the Wizarding world in the near future. And because of that he wants to make sure that he's on your good side, also you have successfully completed all of their assigned jobs so far." she pointed out with a smirk.

"Two jobs is barely anything, even if one of them was taking down a corrupt Wizard Saint." mumbled Natsu as he shook his head.

"What are you talking about just two jobs, what do you call getting rid of Death's Head Caucus?" asked Ultear in a slightly shocked tone.

"Me making sure that one of my mates no longer has to worry about her old guild mates coming for her head." he stated in a dead serious tone that made Ultear know he would do the same for her. She couldn't stop a smile from forming on her face because if things didn't go according to her plans, than Natsu being that devoted to her might be her saving grace.

"Interesting, because I know for a fact that they were talking about possibly assigning that to you before I had to leave." she said with a smirk.

"Shit, so you're saying if me and Ikaruga had waited for maybe just a day longer I might have gotten paid for doing all of that as well?" he asked in a slightly irritated tone.

"Probably, but I'm also guessing that you still could get something out of them since they still want to keep you on friendly terms with them. Also you being seen with that other woman will definitely give you more credit with other dark guilds." she pointed out while slightly becoming upset at the mere mention of Ikaruga. She knew that Ikaruga had already most likely done the same things with Natsu before her, and that she was probably going to keep doing them with him as they traveled across the country together. But that didn't mean she was completely okay with another woman, even if it was one of his mates, doing that with her man after she shared something so special with him.

"I'll have to do that after we finish our job tomorrow." he replied with a smirk, not realizing that what he just thought brought Ultear out of a train of thought that probably wouldn't have ended good for him or either of his two mates.

"You're here on a job?" she asked with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

"Yes, did you honestly think I came back here for some sightseeing or a walk down memory lane?" he asked her back in a slightly angry tone.

"Honestly that is what Master Hades and I were concerned about after finding out you were here, he was confident that you were going back to them." she replied with a smirk, completely disregarding the angry tone he just used on her. Because she was now extremely happy to learn that he was only in Magnolia on official business, and he wasn't going to be joining up with Fairy Tail again like she and Master Hades feared.

"Well you can tell that old geezer that there is no way in hell I'm ever going to join Fairy Tail while Makarov is associated with it in any way shape or form." he stated in serious tone once again.

"He'll be thrilled to hear that, and since we're already talking about him I might as well discuss the other reason he wanted me to meet with you." she said with a bright smile.

"That he is once again offering me a spot in your guild, sorry but I'm still going to politely decline for a few reasons. Such as him ordering you to take me out if I did intend on rejoining Fairy Tail, and the main one is that I am never going to have anyone pulling my strings ever again." he stated with absolute certainty.

"How did you know about him giving that order?" asked Ultear with a completely shocked expression.

"It was just a guess, if I was in his position I would try and get rid of any loose ends like me." he answered with a little chuckle.

"If you were able to figure all of this out on your own, why in the world did you act like an idiot while at Fairy Tail?" she asked, not being able to comprehend how someone could change so much in such a little amount of time.

"I didn't do any of this stuff before because I never needed to, all I had to do back then was fight whoever got in our way. But as I now know, I was dead wrong about that and because of it I lost two of the most important people in my life." he replied in a somber tone as a frown spread across his face.

"So what is this job you're going to be doing tomorrow?" she asked, because she honestly didn't know what else to say to his last comment. And she thought that the best thing she could do for him was possibly get his mind on anything other than what she knew he saw as his biggest failures.

"Laxus asked me to help him over throw Makarov so that he could become the next guild Master of Fairy Tail." replied Natsu with a small smirk reappearing on his face.

"You're serious aren't you." she stated in disbelief.

"Absolutely, even if he does succeed I still will probably not join them since I know that is what you were going to ask me next. But I have a strange feeling that even with Ikaruga and me helping him, he will still fail at his little plan which should be exciting to watch." he said as his grin only got bigger.

"So what are the two of you going to do?" she asked in a slightly concerned voice.

"Simple, we are going to beat any member of Fairy Tail that is unlucky enough to cross our paths." he answered only for her to pounce on him and start a heated kiss. But just as he thought it was going to lead into what they had been doing for a few hours today she stopped it and went back to her position on his chest.

"What in the hell was that?" he asked in a confused tone.

"That was me saying thank you for confirming that I had nothing to fear about you possibly joining them again." she stated as she looked back up at him with a loving smile.

"I already told you that you didn't have anything to worry about something like that happening." he said while tightening his hold on her.

"I know, but hearing what you were going to do and seeing how excited you are to do it just confirmed your earlier words for me." she said while closing her eyes with a content smile spread across her lips.

"Isn't that sweet." said Ikaruga while leaning against the door post with her usual smirk.

"Hey Ikaruga." replied Natsu as he smiled at her while Ultear on the other hand was glaring daggers at her.

"I wouldn't mind joining the two of you." she said with her smirk only growing. "But it seems that currently Ultear is completely against something like that right now. So I guess I'm just here to tell you two that I let the poor man down stairs go and do something else other than listen to the two of you." she finished, enjoying how angry Ultear was with her right now.

"I take it that he knows to not spread any rumors about us being here?" asked Natsu as a stern look came over his face.

"Of course, I think I told him that you and I enjoy removing body parts from people and cauterizing them right away with your flames. And he might have been under the impression that we would do that to his little solider if he so much as mentioned us in the slightest." she replied, as he smiled back at her while shaking his head.

"You're going to give the poor man nightmares." he chuckled.

"I'm fairly confident that the two of you already did that on your own, oh and what is the rest of your guild going to think about your new tattoo Ultear?" she asked while pointing to Ultear's back, causing said woman's eyes to shoot wide open in surprise.

"What in the world are you talking about?" asked Ultear as she frantically tried to look at her back but was having zero luck, which caused the other two to chuckle at her. "Natsu what did you do to my back?" she asked now glaring at him while she was straddling his waist and had him trapped between his arms. This gave the man a really good view of her sexy body, which he most likely wouldn't have been able to resist if she wasn't also looking at him like she was ready to murder him if he said what she didn't want to hear from him.

"How can I tell you that when all I can see right now are your gorgeous breasts and well-toned stomach?" he asked, causing her to slightly blush at him an hop off of him and turn around so he could see for himself now that she was no longer freaking out.

What he saw surprised the dragon slayer, since he expected her to have a similar mating mark like Ikaruga's. It kind of was in the sense that it was also a dragon, but rather than being pink and slender, Ultear's was a light purple and somehow gave off an elegant and sophisticated feel to it. But the most shocking thing about her tattoo was that it was coiled around her Grimoire Heart Emblem in a threatening manner, while slowly circling around it in a clockwise spin. Needless to say this took a little while for him to explain to her, but after he did he was surprised to see her slightly smile at him as she looked at it herself with a mirror.

"Are you upset about it?" asked Natsu nervously since he really didn't want her to be, because it was visible proof that they were mates and the eventual bonds that they were going to form together.

"No, I was just a little surprised and worried about how I'm going to keep something like this hidden from the rest of my guild. But after seeing it for myself I really like it, it looks to me at least that you are willing to protect me even from my own guild if that should ever be needed." she replied while watching it slowly move around her guild emblem.

"Glad to hear, but what are you going to do about not letting the rest of your guild see it?" he asked in a concerned tone as he brought her into a warm and caring hug.

"I guess I'm going to have to wear a new outfit that hides it for now at least. And who knows, maybe I'll eventually figure out how to hide it just from members of my own guild." she answered with a smile as she looked back up at him.

"Since you already know a lot about the mating habits of dragons, I'm guessing that I don't need to tell you what would happen if someone even tries to do anything like what we just did." he stated with a seriousness that reminded Ultear of what he was truly capable of doing after he left Fairy Tail.

"Yes I do, and you don't need to worry about it Natsu. Besides if something like that did happen I know that my big bad dragon would come flying in to save the day." she replied with an amused grin as Natsu proceeded to bring her into another kiss.

"I would be upset at you taking Natsu all to yourself, but considering that we didn't stop for hours and continued the next day after once he claimed me. I think I'll just leave you two to it." stated Ikaruga as she departed from the bedroom and headed down stairs with a sly grin. She knew that she had all the time in the world to be with Natsu since she didn't have any other obligations to pull her away from him like Ultear currently did.

 **The next day a little after noon:**

"Well I didn't expect for something like this to happen." stated Ikaruga as she and Natsu watched the members of Fairy Tail flood the streets with a weird sense of urgency to them.

"You're telling me, I wonder what Laxus said to them before he left that got them so worked up." replied Natsu as he noticed something odd happen as two members where now trapped inside some of Freed's runes.

"Whatever it was apparently was enough to get those two to start fighting each other without a second thought." she pointed out while gesturing to the two members he was also looking at.

"Interesting, this isn't like a normal fight between members of Fairy Tail." he replied as one of the members fell to the ground knocked out as the other one took off like his life depended on it.

"And why do you say that, because from what I've heard about Fairy Tail this is a regular thing?" she asked with a confused expression on her face, which he found cute because she usually didn't make one since she most of the time knew what is going on around her.

"A normal brawl at Fairy Tail rarely ends with members actually being knocked out. Not to mention that it is usually contained to the guild hall so that the town doesn't get destroyed in the process." he answered as a grin spread across his lips.

"Well it's not our job to be worried about why they are attacking each other right now. Our only job is to go out there and have a little fun with anyone that has a Fairy Tail emblem on them that we run into." she stated as she looked onto someone who might give her an interesting fight.

"I couldn't agree with you more babe, so why don't we go in there and have some fun with these Fairies." replied Natsu as he jumped off of the roof and landed in front of his first target. Who needless to say was completely caught off guard by his sudden appearance.

"Natsu what in the world are you doing here?" asked Gray in disbelief as Natsu dusted off his coat that only got dirty because of him smashing into the road right in front of the ice mage.

"Isn't it obvious Gray, I've come to take part in the festival." stated Natsu as a grin spread across his face while his hands both ignited in crimson flames.

 **End of Chapter**

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Thanks for reading and I hope you all enjoyed it. So as you can probably tell the next chapter is going to be full of a few fights, which I wouldn't mind taking suggestions on who you want to see duke it out with who. I also plan to show what transpired inside the guild, unless you don't want to see that at all since it has been done tons of times. Of course if I do it I'll probably only start from where Laxus makes his announcement since that is the only part that will be slightly different from canon. So that about sums it up for this author's note I guess, so feel free to drop me a review or pm and I'll get back to you as fast as I can.**

 **Oh and if you would like me to update faster or possibly start a new story I have information about my page that I set up on my profile page.**

 **Until the next Chapter**

 **Digem Out!**


	13. A Not So Promising Start

Ch 13: A Not So Promising Start

 **In the Fairy Tail Guildhall just a few minutes earlier:**

"Laxus! Release them this instant, this is going too far even for you!" bellowed Makarov as he glared at his grandson, who at the moment was leaning up against the petrified Lucy with a smug grin.

"Well that's where you're wrong, gramps." he replied, enjoying the slight expression of hurt that the elderly guild Master made for a second after hearing himself being called by the nickname that Natsu always used to call him. "This was the only way for me to make you realize that you're way past your prime and should hand over your position to someone else who's able bring Fairy Tail back to its rightful place." he finished while letting his lightning dance between his fingers. Just in case someone thought that he still might be bluffing about destroying one of the girls if they didn't listen to him and participate in this fighting festival of his.

"And let me guess, you just so happen to be the person that you believe is capable of accomplishing that?" he asked him back, only able to hold himself back to ensure that nothing would happen to any of the petrified girls on the stage.

"I'd be lying if I said no to that question, gramps. Which is why I've decided to have this little battle royal with everyone in Fairy Tail participating, where we can once and for all determine who's the strongest and who should be the next guild Master." explained Laxus with a little chuckle as he looked at the determined glares he was receiving from most of the guild members.

"That's ridiculous Laxus." he commented while shaking his head at his foolish grandson.

"What exactly is ridiculous about any of this gramps?" Laxus asked back with his expression becoming serious. "I'm sick and tired of sitting back and letting an old fool like you run this guild into the ground, I mean we've already become the laughing stalk of everyone else after what happened with Phantom Lord. And this little festival will also serve as a way for me to weed out the rest of the weaklings in the guild that aren't even worth my time. That is of course assuming that no one is capable of beating me and the rest of the Thunder Legion." explained the lightning mage as a smirk spread across his face, as he could visually see his grandfather trying to come up with some sort of way to settle all of this without fighting.

"Those are tough words for someone that just so happened to do this while Glidarts and Mystogan aren't around." voiced Gray in a smug tone, which he felt like he earned after seeing the pissed off look he was now receiving from the blonde on stage.

"Those two are barely ever here, if I waited for both of them to be here at the same time I would most likely be as old as gramps is right now." replied Laxus with a little chuckle as he reeled in his emotions, knowing that Gray was just trying to upset him.

"Then what about turning Erza and the other girls into stone?" he asked still having a smug grin plastered on his mug. "Even you aren't arrogant enough to think that Erza isn't capable of giving you and the rest of your cronies a good run for your money." he finished with his own little chuckle as the rest of the Thunder Legion were now glaring daggers at him.

"I'd normally agree with you on that one Gray, but seeing as how she and the rest of them were easily turned to stone by Evergreen here, that is kind of a moot point. And I think that is enough of this little chit chat, you all know the rules of the game and what is at stake if you don't try your hardest." replied Laxus, clearly done with talking to them and wanting to get the fighting festival started.

"Laxus, please reconsider, think about how this will affect the guild and everyone in it." pleaded Makarov, hoping that his grandson would finally listen to him.

"Sorry Gramps, I've already thought this through and one way or another, Fairy Tail is going to change after today." he answered while getting ready to finally depart with the rest of his team. That is until one of them decided to remind him about a certain something that they promised an ex-member of their guild, who only agreed to help them under very specific conditions.

"Laxus, shouldn't we let those three go?" asked Freed in a nervous tone, which caused the rest of Fairy Tail to wonder what in the world he was talking about. "I'm only saying this because he would most likely see this as us possibly betraying him, and if that happened then we never should have brought him in on this." stuttered out the Rune Mage, not liking the glare he was currently receiving from Laxus. This only caused everyone else to become even more confused at who they would have brought in on this plan of theirs, and more importantly why the Thunder Tribe seemed uneasy just talking about whomever it is.

"I guess you're right, Freed. It would probably be better to not even have to try and explain to him that they were turned to stone for their own protection and I wasn't ever planning on hurting them." replied Laxus after letting out a sigh and then motioning to Evergreen to go ahead with it. And to everyone's shock, Mira, Levy, and Juvia were all turned back to normal only for Laxus and the rest of his team to group up together.

"What in the world is going on?" asked Mira as she looked at the stone statue of her friends surrounding her.

"Juvia is terribly confused." stated the water mage as she looked at the few friends of hers in the guild that are currently turned into stone.

"All I'm going to say is that you're lucky he cares about you for some unknown reason." replied Evergreen as she glared at Juvia. "If I had any say in this you'd have stayed that way for what you did to Fairy Tail." she finished while still glaring at the other woman.

"What is the meaning of this Laxus?" asked Makarov, who currently had a really bad feeling why those three girls were set free.

"Come on gramps, I know for a fact that you already know why I let those three specific girls free." answered Laxus as a huge grin spread across his face that sent chills down a few of the guild members' spines. "Let's just say that he seemed more than willing to help me out on this little endeavor of mine. And I would have to be a complete fool to not bring in someone that has already taken out two different Wizard Saints." he finished before he and the rest of the Thunder Legion disappeared in a bright flash of his lightning.

"You don't think he's talking about him, do you?" asked Gray with a shocked expression as he turned to look at his guild Master. Only for him to be to slightly caught off guard by the sad and guilty look that Makarov had, before changing to a determined look that he usually had before letting them go out on jobs.

"He might be, but that is something we can deal with later, right now we need to head out there and deal with my insolent grandson!" he declared, getting a cheer in response as most of Fairy Tail flooded out into the streets determined to take down Laxus and the Thunder Legion to save the remaining girls that were still petrified.

The only ones to remain in the guildhall were the three girls that were completely lost on what was currently going on around them. And three males that were: Makarov, Gray and finally Reedus since he was never much of a fighter and was quite frankly scared shitless about the idea of going up against the Thunder Legion. While Gray on the other hand wanted to make sure that Makarov was okay before he headed out there, since he and a few others knew that their Master was still blaming himself about everything that happened with Natsu.

"Are you really okay with him possibly going up against us again?" asked Gray hesitantly, not only because of his concern for the elderly guild master but because he also didn't know himself. How was he supposed to deal with that possibly happening for a third time if you counted what happened at the Tower of Heaven.

"I'm fine Gray, and I'll be right behind you once I explain what is going on with the girls." he replied with a not too convincing grin, which Gray didn't buy for a second. But considering their situation he didn't really have the time to waste when a certain group of mages needed to be taken down.

So the Ice Mage decided to show a confident grin before heading towards the exit while saying one last thing to all of them. "Good, because I'm going to head out there and knock some sense into that idiot of a grandson of yours. Even if I have to do the same to Flame Brain while I'm at it." he finished before disappearing through the doors.

"Master, did he just mention Natsu being in town?" asked Mira, who was fairly sure of that being the case after what happened yesterday with Erza and Ikaruga.

"That he did, and it would seem like it's thanks to him that you three are no longer like the rest of them." he answered while gesturing to the other girls. "But before the three of you head out there hoping to find him, I need to tell you what else is going on." he said only to stop and look at Levy, who currently had her hand in the air until he looked at her in the eyes.

"Master, Juvia took off as soon as she pieced together that Natsu was the Flame Brain that Gray was talking about." stated Levy while pointing to the spot that used to contain their water mage. This caused Mira to let out a little giggle as Makarov started to mumble about no one ever listening to him or respecting his authority.

 **With Natsu and Gray:**

"I was really hoping that prick wasn't telling the truth about you helping him with this idiotic plan of his." mumbled Gray as he got into an ice make stance, not taking any chances with the dragon slayer standing before him.

"I can honestly say that I didn't think he would mention little old me." replied Natsu with a grin that bordered on being slightly crazed. "But before we get to the fun, can you tell me something?" he asked while still acting like he wasn't concerned at all about the two of them fighting each other.

"Go ahead I guess." responded the ice mage, a little surprised that Natsu wasn't getting straight to fighting like he usually would. But then again that was pretty much an entire lifetime ago for his old rival, that he unfortunately didn't know if he could actually compete with anymore.

"Did that egotistical bastard harm any of them?" he asked knowing that if Laxus heeded his warning that Gray would most likely know who he was referring to.

"If you're talking about Mira, Levy and Juvia, then you've got nothing to worry about. Which can't be said about the other women that he's holding hostage right now." answered Gray, thinking that this might upset the dragon slayer that cared so deeply about those he considered his family.

"Good, and I figured that he was probably going to do something like that." he replied with a little smirk, enjoying the look of outrage that he was now getting from his old friend.

"Good? How in the fucking hell can you say that when he's threatening to kill Erza and the others that didn't fall under your little agreement with him?" asked Gray now glaring at him like he didn't even know him anymore.

"Because it honestly isn't any of my concern now that I'm no longer a member, or did you already forget about me being kicked out?" he asked back with a little chuckle. "I know that it was a while ago, but I would have thought that something like that wouldn't have been that easy to forget." he continued.

"Of course I didn't forget you moron, no one in the guild has." Gray shouted back. "Some of them are still holding out hope that you'll eventually return." he finished with a little sneer coming across his face.

"But judging by that expression you're currently giving me, you're not one of them." stated Natsu now having a shit eating grin spread across his face.

"Not any more you jackass, going against us three different times makes it pretty clear that you no longer care about us." he spat out as frost started to slowly form around him.

"Well there is where you're actually wrong Gray, I do still care about a few of the members in Fairy Tail. If I didn't then there wouldn't even be a Fairy Tail anymore, and I also wouldn't count what happened at the Tower of Heaven as me going against the guild." replied Natsu still having the same expression from before. "Actually you could consider that one and even the end of the whole Phantom Lord fiasco as me working with you guys." he finished while shaking his head.

"Still full of yourself I see, glad to see that some of the old idiot is still in there." he said with a little smirk while still having his guard up.

"I wouldn't say I'm full of myself when I can easily back it all up. I mean these little babies of mine should be more than enough proof, but even now I'm still not strong enough and I might never be." stated Natsu now twirling a Wizard Saint medal in each of his hands with a sad smile spread across his lips.

"That is definitely not what I was expecting to hear from you." replied Gray with a stunned expression that he only had for a second. "And what in the world do mean by that last part?" he asked as he kept his eyes locked on the pink haired dragon slayer that was now slowly walking around him.

"That I'm still not strong enough to protect the few things that I still care about in this cruel world of ours. Which would mean that you aren't either since you are nowhere near my level anymore, something that you should really get to work on." he said with a sad little chuckle.

"We'll see about that." growled out Gray as he wiped some sweat off of his forehead, which caused his eyes to shoot wide open in surprise.

"So you've finally noticed what everyone else did minutes ago, they all realized that it would probably be a good idea to evacuate the area." he pointed out with a grin while motioning to the abandoned street that they were now the only ones in.

"Whatever, and since when did you become so long winded?" asked Gray with a sneer, while internally he couldn't help but smile at Natsu making sure that no one else would get caught up in their fight that was about to happen.

"Probably after I realized how boring it is to talk with most of my clients." he answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "You'd think that people willing to hire or work with an outcast like me might be interesting, but you'd be dead wrong. All they go on about is how much they hate someone and can't wait to see them suffer." he explained while shaking his head.

"That will soon be you if you're not careful." stated Gray with a little smirk, which he instantly lost when Natsu gave him a glare which made him regret saying that.

"Like hell I will, I'll never become like those freaking idiots and let my hatred for someone else consume me." he shouted back as red flames started to swirl around his clenched fists. "Yes I hate Makarov and myself for what happened to Happy, and I'll probably never forgive either of us for it. But I will not let that stop me from continuing on so that I can make sure something like that never happens again." he declared now having his coat slightly billowing because of the intense magic power he was giving off. Which just so happened to be so strong that Gray had to start backing away from him, and it also caused the ice mage to notice a few things starting to melt or catch on fire.

"Fine Natsu, I was wrong." stuttered out the ice mage. "You won't ever become like them, which I'm actually really glad to hear you say with that determination of yours. So is there any way for me to get you onto our side like you eventually were the last two times?" he asked now having a slight smirk.

"If you doubled what Laxus' is currently paying I could probably switch sides, only since that is kind of to be expected whenever you are dealing with mercenaries because we go where the most jewels are." answered Natsu as he toned down his magic and you could visibly see that he was calming down.

"Alright, so how much is he paying you?" he asked with an actual grin spread across his lips.

"Two million." was Natsu's curt response as a look of disbelief washed over the now shocked ice mage.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me, there is no way even with the whole guild pitching in together could we ever even come close to getting four million jewels for you." he shouted out, still finding it hard to believe that the dragon slayer was getting paid that much to fight against Fairy Tail again.

"I'm not, and apparently Laxus was expecting me to ask more from him. Which is making me wonder if I should raise the prices of my services more than what they are at right now." replied Natsu while scratching his chin in thought. "And I guess that means we should probably get back to it since you don't have enough jewels to sway me over to your side." he finished while giving Gray a grin that the ice mage knew all too well.

"Shit, **ICE MAKE: CANNONS!** " shouted the ice mage while jumping back as two cannons of ice formed and instantly unloaded on the man currently grinning at him. This resulted in two large explosions going off and a steam cloud to form around the point of impact. **"ICE MAKE: SHIELD!"** he shouted out as soon as he landed. Only for him to be pushed back a few feet by a large stream of red flames shooting out from inside of the cloud of steam, that were easily starting to break through his shield of ice.

"Those cannons pack a powerful punch, Gray. But if that's the only new move you've learned since I've been gone, then this isn't even going to be nearly as fun for me like it was in the good old days." said the dragon slayer as he slowly emerged from the steam still grinning.

"It isn't, and what was that last move of yours? I don't remember you ever having a ranged attack like that." asked Gray, still a little thrown off by how strong he currently is after being gone for just a few months.

"That wasn't really a move since I didn't have to say anything, it was just me bringing forth my flames and sending them out. Which I'm sure you know is a fraction of the power of a real spell, that I happen to have a few new ones that I'm waiting for the appropriate time to use." he explained with a little chuckle at the look he was now receiving from his old rival.

"You're bluffing!" shouted out Gray, hoping that the dragon slayer was doing just that. Because if he wasn't, then he knew that at his current level he had absolutely zero chances of beating him on his own.

"I'm not, and I plan on beating you without ever using any of my spells." he declared while once again conjuring up flames on both of his fists.

 **"ICE MAKE: ARROWS!"** yelled Gray, as a large quantity of arrows completely composed of ice launched themselves at Natsu. Whose grin only widened as he started to swat away most of them and dodged the rest as he made his way towards the ice mage.

 **"ICE MAKE: LANCE!"** shouted Gray, hoping that the larger spears wouldn't be as easy for the dragon slayer to deflect like he did with his arrows. He did this while once again jumping backwards a few times to make sure that he kept his distance from his opponent.

"Sorry Gray, but making them bigger is actually just making it easier for me to handle." said Natsu with a huge grin and a little chuckle as he actually destroyed or deflected all of the lances. Not even needing to dodge any of them like he did with the arrows that Gray sent at him with the previous attack. "And why do you keep retreating? Is it because you've already realized that as soon I get close to you it's all over?" he asked now openly laughing, which caused his opponent to let out a frustrated growl.

 **"ICE MAKE: CANNONS!"** growled out the ice mage, but this time summoning four of them and having them each fire three different shots at the laughing mage that seemed to not be taking this seriously. And that wasn't the end of his assault, oh no, he had a few more tricks up his sleeve that eventually would make his old rival see him as a worthy opponent again.

 **"ICE MAKE: FLOOR!"** he shouted, causing the entire street to become covered by a thick layer of ice as far as the eye could see. **"ICE MAKE: KNUCKLES!"** he bellowed as two large fists emerged from the buildings on either side of the street and continued on until they crashed together inside the cloud of steam that wasn't dissipating thanks to the continuous attacks being sent in at the fire dragon slayer.

 **"ICE MAKE: ARROWS!"** Gray shouted as he started to pant from using so many spells in such quick succession of each other. **"ICE MAKE: SAUCERS!"** he yelled while sending four different buzz saws flying into the steam at different angles. And he couldn't help but smirk when he finally heard a grunt of pain from within the steam, meaning that he finally at least hit Natsu once. He waited for the next few minutes in an awkward silence, expecting Natsu to come back with some sort of retort about none of his attacks affecting him in the slightest.

But instead he was met with an eerie silence that was starting to make him worry. Maybe he caught Natsu off guard with all of those moves and severely hurt him and continued to do so with each of his following moves. He was about to go into the cloud of steam to make sure his friend was alright when he finally noticed that all of the ice covering street was completely gone.

"You're lucky that Happy made me promise to not forget about all of the good times that I had while being a member of Fairy Tail. Which happened to include you being in a lot of them, otherwise your head would currently be lying in between your own two feet right now." growled out Natsu as his shadowy figure slowly could be seen coming out of the steam.

"W-what?" stuttered out Gray, now also feeling the immense amount of killing intent rolling off of his pink haired friend.

"I guess I'll just have to explain it differently for you this time, Gray. It took every ounce of my willpower to not fucking kill you where you're standing for damaging one of the few things that I still have of Happy's." he replied while coming out of the steam with an extremely pissed off expression. He then pointed at his right shoulder where a certain green armband was located, causing Gray to let out a gasp of horror as he looked at the new cut and blood stain on it.

"I'm sorry Natsu, I didn't mean to do that." apologized the ice mage, knowing how much it meant to his current opponent.

"I know you are." he said as a sneer spread across his face. "But not as sorry as you're going to be in a few moments." he finished while cracking his knuckles and rolling his shoulders and also his neck.

"Natsu I…" Gray started to say only to be cut off by something hard hitting his gut.

 **"FIRE DRAGON'S CRUSHING IRON FIST!"** bellowed the pissed off dragon slayer and the next second Gray was sent hurtling through a few different buildings. "I wasn't going to use any spells during this fight of ours, but that was before you fucked up like you just did." he spat out while going through the buildings that he sent his old rival flying through. Gray wanted to apologize again, but all he could currently do was cough up a little blood and wheeze in pain as he tried to regain his breath.

 **"FIRE DRAGON'S TALON!"** shouted Natsu as his flame enhanced kick sent Gray flying into the air until he fell onto a nearby roof.

"Why did you have to go and screw up like that Gray?" he asked after jumping up to the roof and dusting himself off. "We could have had a nice fight that would have ended with you getting knocked out of course, but it would have definitely been better than this." he said while gesturing at the ice mage's current state, which was not good and he probably had a few broken ribs already. Gray made another wheezing sound, most likely trying to say something back but couldn't thanks to those last two attacks where Natsu wasn't holding back.

"I know you didn't want any of this to happen Gray, and I'm not just talking about what just transpired between the two of us today." he stated while letting out a sad sigh as Gray's expression became one of someone confused while still in immense pain. "Who knows, maybe we could possibly get back to something similar to what we used to have in a few years. That is, if you can forgive me for letting my anger get the better of me just now, and also accept me for who I am right now since that isn't going to change." he finished with a sad smile as Gray's eyes widened after hearing this.

Gray let out another round of coughs as started to get back up, most likely trying to say something again. But before he could a certain dragon slayer decided to end their little skirmish with a classic move of his. **"FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!"** shouted Natsu as he hit Gray on the side of the face, rendering him unconscious.

"What the heck is going on over here?" asked a random member of Fairy Tail as he came upon the scene, not being able to tell Natsu's identity just yet. Thanks to Natsu having his head down while only having the back of his white coat exposed to the unfortunate member that stumbled into him.

"Nothing much, just two old friends finally settling a few things between each other." he answered while turning around and giving the poor mage a grin that could give children nightmares.

"S-s-salamander, you're a-actually h-h-here." squeaked out the member as they started to tremble where they stood.

"Yep!" replied Natsu now having one of his old toothy grins spread across his face. That for just a second gave the mage of Fairy Tail a little bit of hope, hope that he was once again there to save them. But that came crashing down as his vision faded to black after being on the receiving end of a flaming fist. "And I'm not even going to bother toying around with weaklings like you." he finished as the body of the mage hit the ground.

 **Back at the guild a few moments earlier:**

"And that brings us to what is currently going on." said Makarov while letting out a tired sigh.

"How can Laxus do something like this?" asked Mira with a look of disgust on her usually bright and cheerful face.

"Because he's an arrogant brat that believes he would be a better guild Master than me." he replied with a frown, wondering if he should step down, especially after what recently happened with a certain pink haired dragon slayer and Exceed.

"I can't believe that Laxus would actually go and bring Natsu back for something like this, and that he would even agree to it." stated Levy with a scowl, hating that others kept using Natsu against them like this.

"I believe he's only doing this for the jewels, which Laxus has plenty of after being an S-Class mage for all these years." said Makarov with a stern expression, hoping that was the reason Natsu was working with his grandson. And he was about to say something else before he and Mira detected an immense amount of killing intent along with a very distinctive magic that neither of them would ever forget.

"Master this is really bad." said Mira as she gave the elderly man a concerned look.

"What's going on?" asked Levy, only for runes to form in the doorway that told her and the other two what happened. This was that Gray was eliminated from the competition along with another mage following a few seconds later. But unlike the other times that names formed in the doorway, which showed the names of two member of Fairy Tail going up against each other and ending with one of them being crossed off. This time their names were just crossed off, giving no indication as to who defeated them. Unfortunately Makarov and the two other girls were able to quickly figure out who was most likely responsible for their eliminations.

"They're both just knocked out, right?" she asked, hoping that it would be a while before random names were crossed off with no explanation.

"Of course they are he wouldn't risk killing either of them." declared Makarov, causing the two girls to look at him curiously. But before they could interrogate him the sounds of someone rummaging behind the bar's counter caught their attention. This allowed the three of them to see a distinctive mop of messy black hair and broad shoulders that belonged to one of their newer members.

"Gajeel, what in the world are you still doing here?" asked Makarov in a shocked tone as he glared at the iron dragon slayer.

"Obviously getting something to eat while the she demon wasn't guarding your good silverware." he answered with a few utensils still sticking out of his mouth as he chewed on them.

"You're going to replace those." stated Mira while giving him a deadly glare that actually caused him to have a shiver run up his spin.

"We can worry about that later you two!" shouted Makarov as he waved his hands about frantically. "Right now I need you to go out there and knock some sense into my grandson." he ordered while pointing directly at Gajeel.

"Now that is my type of job, and I've already got a score to settle with him so this is definitely a win-win in my book." he replied with a confident smirk while heading towards the door. But to all of their shock he ran into the same barrier that prevented Makarov from participating, which caused the two of them to get into a heated discussion about their ages.

"Don't worry, I think I should be able to get it where Gajeel can join in if you just give me a few minutes." stated Levy, now wearing her glasses and looking through a pile of books she brought out from who knows where.

"Really, to think that a shrimp like you would be able to accomplish something like that." remarked Gajeel, only to then do a nervous gulp because of the glare he was now receiving from the resident bookworm.

"It's probably for the best that you can't go out there right now since he's clearly upset about something. And he might still feel like giving you a little payback for what you did to me and my team." she replied, while turning away from the now slightly terrified dragon slayer.

"Why is he of all people here?" he asked while looking at Mira and Makarov for an explanation since the smug look Levy currently had on told him she was enjoying this too much to tell him anymore.

"Laxus apparently thought it was a good idea to bring in some extra muscle on this little plan of his. And I'm also starting to think that he did it knowing how bad Master still feels about how everything turned out between the two of them." explained Mira with a sad smile as Makarov lowered his head now having a guilty expression on it.

"I don't know if it would really be a good idea for me to go out there anymore." he mumbled, clearly nervous about having another encounter with the flame dragon's slayer. Especially after not clearing up what Natsu walked in on the last time he was in town.

"And do you really think hiding in the guild will stop him from coming after you?" asked Levy with a slight smirk as Gajeel started to freak out a little.

"That's enough Levy, and stop freaking out like a scared little kid Gajeel. I'm fairly certain that he won't come to the guild as long as I'm still here." stated Makarov with a sad frown.

"He didn't almost just kill you for the fun of it, now did he?" he snapped back, only to back away from the glare he was now getting from the titan mage. And it would have continued if Mira didn't let out a startled gasp, causing them to all look at the doorway like she was. Where they saw three different groups that were fighting all in duels have both sides eliminated at the same time.

"With him and the rest of the Thunder Tribe out there, our chances of winning are becoming slimmer by the second." pointed out the titan mage with another frown coming over his mug.

"I need to go and talk with him." Mira said just loud enough for Gajeel to hear her before taking off for the door. She got past the barrier just in time to avoid Makarov from grabbing her with his giant hand and keeping her safe inside the guild. "Sorry Master, but I can't sit back and do nothing again." she said while giving him a quick bow and taking off for the town.

"Mira! Come back here this instant!" shouted Makarov, hoping that she would come back and not do something as foolish as what she was currently planning on doing. "She still doesn't have her magic, what if she is forced to fight against a different guild member?" he asked himself out loud, not expecting to get an answer back.

"If that happens, then I will truly pity the unfortunate bastard that even thinks about touching her." answered Gajeel while he visibly shivered at the thought.

"How so?" asked a now intrigued Makarov.

"Salamander of course." he replied with a look that said it should have been obvious. "Holy crap, do you guys not understand how much he cares about those three? Of course he understands that Shrimp and Juvia are occasionally going to get hurt since they are both still active mages. But considering that the she demon isn't, he's even more protective of her and would have literally ripped my head off if I even so much as thought about touching her during the whole war thing." he explained with a terrified look on his usually smug face. He could already imagine Natsu standing over his beaten form giving him that crazed grin as he slowly started to remove small pieces from him in the most excruciating way he could think of.

"That really doesn't make me feel any better." stated Makarov with an extremely worried look coming over his face.

"It wasn't supposed to." mumbled the iron dragon slayer as he grabbed some more silverware and started to eat them in a secluded corner. Waiting until the little blue haired girl was able to let him out of the guild so he could get as far away from Natsu as he possibly could.

 **With Ikaruga:**

In the middle of a completely destroyed street currently stood two females, both of them intently staring the other one down. Both of them slightly panting from their intense confrontation that's only reprieve was happening right now, one soaked in water from head to toe. While the other one had various cuts strewn about her attire, that now looked like it would only take a few more before it fell off of her.

"I knew that going up against you again would give me a challenge." stated Ikaruga while giving her opponent her usual smug smirk.

"Juvia could have gone the rest of her life without ever seeing you again." replied the water mage while giving the sword mistress a heated glare.

"Oh you don't mean that." she said as her smirk grew ever so slightly.

"Yes Juvia does, and Juvia is never going to forgive you for saying such indecent things about her Natsu-sama." hissed Juvia as she finally took in their surroundings. And the first thing she thought of after seeing all of the destruction was that she was extremely glad that all of the citizens had gotten out of there before they even started. Probably due to the murderous aura she gave off as soon as she spotted the pink haired assassin casually walking down the street after taking out a member of Fairy Tail.

This caused Ikaruga to actually start laughing, because if the odd water mage was upset at her for just saying those things about him. She could only imagine how she might react to finding out about all of the hot and steamy sex the two of them have had whenever either of them felt like it since the whole Tower of Heaven incident. Not only that, but add in the fact that Ultear had already swooped in before the poor water mage even got a chance to just made it too funny for Ikaruga at the moment.

"Shut the hell up, you dirty whore!" shouted out Juvia, not liking how much enjoyment her opponent was getting out of all of this.

"Hey, there's no reason to stoop to that already now is there?" she asked back, no longer laughing to herself and giving the blue haired mage before her a small glare.

"Why not? Because to Juvia, that is all you are ever going to be for trying to get her Natsu-sama to do such indecent things with you." declared Juvia with a sneer sent the sword mistress's way.

"Is that so?" she asked, once again having her usual smirk coming over her visage as Juvia nodded at her. "Then this whore is exactly what your precious Natsu-sama wanted, since he chose me over you even though you two had met before we ever did." she finished with a smugness in her voice.

"No he didn't, Natsu-sama wouldn't." denied the water mage as she started to shake her head in denial.

"Sorry Juvy, not only did he do exactly that but he also chose to mark me as his first mate as well." she said, enjoying the horrified look that Juvia now had at hearing this. "You aren't even worthy to be his second choice, that pretentious time mage came in and took that from you as well." she continued as Juvia's head dropped so her face could no longer be seen. "Your best bet right now is to hope that he'll accept you as his third mate, even though to me at least. It seems like he's into really strong and independent women, which you my friend are not. I'll admit that you're a strong mage, but you definitely aren't independent since you already seem to be extremely clingy and possessive of him, and the two of you haven't even done anything together yet." she finished, expecting Juvia to have a complete and utter breakdown. Which would allow her to finish her off and prove to herself definitively that she was far superior to the woman standing before her.

"Unforgivable." mumbled Juvia still with her head down. This caused Ikaruga to look at her questioningly since the water mage's tone didn't sound broken like she thought it would.

"What was that?" she asked back as it all of a sudden started to rain. The rain at first started out as a light sprinkle, but it was progressively getting stronger with each passing second until it was a full on downpour.

"Juvia said that it's unforgivable, unforgivable that you got to do that with Natsu-sama before Juvia did." stated Juvia as thunder started to ring out above the town as it became harder for Ikaruga to even see ten feet in front of her thanks to the rain.

"So what are you going to do about it, Juvy?" asked Ikaruga with a small scowl since this definitely wasn't the ideal circumstance for her to fight in. Especially when going up against a formidable water mage that she already couldn't land a normal physical attack on.

"Juvia is going to prove her love to Natsu-sama." she answered while starting to slowly trudge towards her opponent.

"And how exactly are you planning on doing that since he already has two other women?" asked Ikaruga with an inquisitive look sent at the water mage that she still couldn't see the face of.

"By killing the two of you of course." she replied while her head finally rose. This allowed Ikaruga to realize that she did in fact break the water mage by telling her about the two of them becoming Natsu's mates before her. She just didn't think that she would cause the water mage to break and turn into the woman with glowing red eyes and deranged look staring her down right now. With a look that told her that Juvia was one hundred percent serious about trying to go through with that threat of hers.

"I'd like to see…" started Ikaruga before being blasted to the side by a stream of water she couldn't detect.

"Oh you don't need to worry, Juvia will give you front row seats as Juvia slowly ends the two of you." said the water mage in a tone that further showed how much she had actually lost it.

"Bring it you blue haired bimbo, **FIRE DRAGON'S BURNING BLADE!** " she shouted while drawing her sword from its sheath, which as soon as it came out was covered in red flames that looked like a certain someone's flames. This caused Juvia to let out a scream of frustration before shouting her own spell, **"WATER HYDRA!** " which caused four viscous dragon like heads to sprout from the ground beneath her.

Both women remained completely motionless as they intently stared each other down, waiting for the other one to strike. Juvia with her four dragon like heads snarling from atop of their long necks that could easily strike the sword mistress from this distance. While Ikaruga on the other side of the street held out her flaming sword in a quick draw stance, which was apparently hot enough to prevent the rain from hitting her anymore. If Juvia was in the right state of mind she would have definitely noticed this and pieced together that the woman was telling the truth about her relationship to a certain dragon slayer.

The two powerful women stayed like that for a few more minutes, until Juvia finally lost her patience and sent two of her hydra's heads lunging at the infuriating sword mistress. Who once again had a confident smirk as she gracefully side stepped both of the heads biting at her, and with two quick slices of her sword. She removed both of the heads from their necks before they could return to the water mage that still had a crazed look to her.

"For a second there I was thinking that this wasn't looking too good for me." stated Ikaruga as a loud crack of thunder rang out through the stormy skies hanging over Magnolia. "But after our last encounter I knew I needed something a little stronger to compete against a water mage of your caliber." she continued to say with a little smirk, while wondering why Juvia didn't seem too upset about her last attack being so easily countered. "Luckily for me at least, Natsu gave me the perfect solution to that problem when I became his first mate." she said while putting a heavy emphasis on first mate.

"You may be his first, but I'll be sure to make sure that you'll never get to see him again." replied Juvia with a wicked grin before launching the remaining two heads of her hydra at her opponent. And just like the first two, Ikaruga easily dispatched them but was shocked when she had to jump and roll out of the way from four more of them attacking her at the same time. She continued to evade them until she finally got out of their striking distance, giving her enough time to look at the water mage as the two previous heads she dealt with formed into four of them.

This sight finally caused the sword mistress to lose that confident smirk that she usually had on display for the whole world to see. Which of course caused the water mage to have one of her own, but just a little more crazed than what Ikaruga usually had. "It would seem that you are finally seeing the hopelessness of the situation you're now in." stated Juvia as she slowly started to walk towards her, with all eight heads of her hydra growling at her opponent.

"How is that even possible?" asked Ikaruga as she maintained her distance from the other woman. She was hoping that she would be able to come up with a way to counteract that spell of Juvia's before she found herself cornered.

"The dead have no need for information like that." she replied only for it to turn into a crazed laughter as her hydras started to strike at the pink haired woman. Who unfortunately off of pure instinct dodged them only to follow up with a devastating counter that ended with their heads falling to the ground. This caused Juvia to only laugh harder as each of the heads sliced off turned into two more that were instantly ready to shred the woman before her to pieces.

"You seem to be a little slow on the uptake today." said Juvia now having a total of fifteen hydra heads coming from the ground around her and snarling at the sword mistress. "Just like the mythical beast that my spell is named after, every time you cut off a head, two more will take its place." she declared while sending four of them at the pink haired woman, who now had her usual smirk spread over her lips.

"Thanks for confirming that for me." replied Ikaruga while rolling under one of the hydra heads attacking her and only cutting halfway through it. Hoping that her assumption about it not being able to heal itself was correct, which was actually a high possibility since it was only made out of Juvia's water. But it would seem that luck was on her side, since after doing similar precision strikes to the other heads attacking her she saw them pull back and remain injured.

"That still won't be enough." shouted out the infuriated water mage in a blind rage. And to Ikaruga's horror, she watched as the completely fine heads of the hydra turned on the injured ones until their heads were removed. "I'll admit that would have been a good strategy if I hadn't come up with the solution that I just demonstrated." she declared as eight more heads sprung up, making it a total of nineteen.

"Shit!" hissed Ikaruga as she jumped out of the way of three different heads lunging at her. Only to land out of their range and then take off in the other direction as fast as she could, causing said water mage to remain there for a few seconds in complete shock. That is until Juvia started to laugh before taking off after the sword mistress with a determined look in her eyes that spelt trouble for anyone that might get in her way.

And so began their game of cat and mouse, which kept on resulting with Ikaruga taking off a few heads before dashing off to another part of the city. Where she would seem to wait until Juvia found her again, and then take out a few more heads before repeating the process all over again.

"Just let me finish you off already!" snarled Juvia as she stalked towards the pink haired assassin waiting for her in an abandoned alley.

"I was about to say the same thing to you." replied Ikaruga with her usual smirk on display.

"Have you not been paying attention?" she asked while gesturing at the more than forty hydra heads that surrounded her currently. "You could never hope to get at Juvia now, something that you haven't even attempted since I brought them out." she stated with a smug grin spread across her lips.

"It would seem that you are actually the one that hasn't been paying attention during this fight of ours." said Ikaruga while pointing up at the now clear sky. "I was wondering how long it was going to take to wear you down, and now that you aren't getting any more water from the rain or the canals in this city of yours. How much longer do you think you'll be able to keep that move of yours going as more heads are added to it?" she asked before lunging forward and slashing with her flaming sword at the hydras that came lunging at her.

"Long enough to kill you!" shouted back Juvia as she sent more of her hydras at the elusive woman that was currently using some of the other hydras as makeshift shields or launching pads for her to jump off of.

 **Back with Natsu when it started to rain:**

Currently at his feet were two members of Fairy Tail, both of them no longer being able to participate in the fighting festival anymore. The two of them were actually members that Natsu actually interacted on a regular basis when he was still a member. They were none other than Macao and Wakaba, two of the older generation that he would occasionally come to when he didn't understand something and they would usually help him out, with the occasional laugh every now and then. And because of that and both of them always being friendly with him, Natsu decided that he would only just knock the two of them out with a quick hit to the back of their heads.

Something that was extremely easy for him to do since they were both about to attack each other thanks to the stupid rune traps that Freed had littered all across the city. Luckily for him and Ikaruga, it didn't affect either of them at all since it only worked on mages that had the Fairy Tail emblem on them. But judging by the storm that came out of nowhere, he had a feeling that Ikaruga had more pressing issues to deal with right now. That he knew of course she probably only make worse for herself by taunting Juvia about their current relationship, which caused him to let out a little chuckle as he walked away from the two older gentlemen that he easily dealt with.

"You've become quite the monster while away from the guild." stated Bixlow with a huge grin while perched on the ledge of a building to his right.

"Thanks Bixlow, if you want to make it out there on your own you kind of have to become one. Otherwise you won't last more than a few days, but that's something that you'll soon get to figure out for yourself." he replied as he continued to walk down the street that were emptying out due to the sudden downpour, courtesy of a certain water mage.

"And what in the hell do you mean by that Natsu?" asked Bixlow as his dolls repeated Natsu's name in an annoying manner.

"Simple, if you guys don't succeed today you're all going to be expelled from the guild like I was. But I guess that means you can still keep your team together so it won't actually change much for you now that I think about it. I mean you guys barely were ever at the guild for the last few years since you all followed Laxus like good little doggies." he answered with a devious smirk, enjoying the prominent grimace that Bixlow had on the lower half of his face.

"We aren't going to fail, and we aren't his dogs we are his valued teammates." spat out Bixlow in disgust, which was shown by his dolls remaining quiet.

"The day is still young Bixlow; a lot can change in just a few hours. And you just keep telling yourself that you aren't his lap dogs. If you recall I used to have a team too, but you know how that turned out for me and the rest of them." he replied with a sad chuckle as he continued to stroll down the now empty street.

"That's because you were a weakling back then, something that none of us are." declared Bixlow, not liking how Natsu clearly thought he was better than the rest of them.

"You got that right, but you don't really know that you're weak until someone else shows you that you are." he said before randomly turning down an alley, which caused Bixlow to hop down and follow after him so that they could keep talking because of all the clothes lines going across it at the top.

"What in the world happened to you, what happened to the brash idiot that rushed into fights?" asked the helmet wearing mage. He knew about all of the news worthy events that happened to the dragon slayer since his expulsion, but even all that wouldn't account for the overall drastic change that he's made.

"I finally saw the world for what it actually is." answered Natsu as he came to a stop and started to inspect something. This caused Bixlow to be even more interested in the dragon slayer since it was a rune trap that was supposed to be a secret that would only trap a mage of Fairy Tail if they walked through it. One that he only planned on using if he wanted to have some fun messing around with one of the members of the guild.

"And what do now you see the world as?" he asked, when he actually really wanted to know how the dragon slayer knew about this trap that he was currently inspecting.

"A place where only the strong have the power to do anything that can actually make a difference. A place where you can only be concerned about yourself and what you want, otherwise it will chew you up and spit you right back out." Natsu responded while getting back up and walking away from the rune trap with a smirk spread across his lips.

"That's a little dark, but I can see the truth behind it. And if you do join up with Fairy Tail after Laxus is master you can have that power to make a difference." he stated with a smirk of his own, that he soon lost when Natsu started to openly laugh at him.

"Sorry Bixlow, but I don't really feel like becoming another one of Laxus' little bitches like the rest of you. And the only one that really has any power in a guild is the Master, which is something that Laxus will most likely never become." stated Natsu with a little chuckle, only for him to stop as a green beam hit the ground right in front of him.

"I've had enough of your trash talking about Laxus and the rest of us." said Bixlow now standing on one of his dolls and floating a few feet in front of the dragon slayer.

"Is that so?" he asked with an eyebrow raised and a little smirk on his lips. "Then what exactly are you going to do about it Bixlow?" he asked as his smirk slowly changed into the grin that he usually had while facing off an opponent that might give him a little trouble.

"I'm going to beat you senseless and prove to Laxus once and for all that we never even needed you in the first place. **BARYON FORMATION!** " Bixlow shouted back while jumping off his one doll as the other four met up with it. And the five of them quickly started to spin into a circle as they started to glow, only for all of them to be covered in a red flame and be reduced to nothing but ash.

"I was initially going to wait a little longer until I started to have fun with Laxus' Thunder Legion. But seeing as you were the one to attack me first, I guess I might as well start right now." he said while grinning at the helmet wearing mage that was backing away from him.

"Just a second Natsu, we can still work this out." replied Bixlow in a scared tone, only for a grin to shoot across his lips. "Like hell it would be that easy, **LINE FORMATION!** " he shouted as a new set of his dolls formed a totem pole behind the dragon slayer and shot a crescent-shaped beam at him. But to his surprise Natsu twisted out of the way as if it was the easiest thing in the world for him to do.

"Did you really think that I wouldn't know about you being able to use other dolls when I know about all of the eye spells you have on your team?" he asked as the dolls were once again reduced to nothing but ashes by his red flames that he now had floating in between his fingertips. "Not to mention why Laxus and I have nothing to fear from those little eye tricks of yours." he stated with a little chuckle.

"We'll see if you are still saying that after I'm done with you, **X FORMATION!** " shouted Bixlow, but watched in horror as his new set of dolls were stopped before they could even form up. This time though it made him start regretting his decision of attacking Natsu since they were made out of metal this time. Which only seemed to give them a few more seconds before the fire dragon slayer reduced them to a puddle on the street.

"If I was capable of taking down Black Steel Gajeel, did you really think normal metal would even be a challenge for me?" he asked while slipping one hand into his pocket and pulling out the two Wizard Saint medals and started to twirl them through his fingers.

"Y-y-you actually took out another W-wizard S-Saint?" stuttered out Bixlow, who thouhgt that it was just another rumor going around about the dragon slayer.

"Yep, not all of the rumors about me are false these days." he stated now having that crazed grin on his face which he usually used while Gajeel was with him. "Actually I would have to say that at least ninety percent of them are completely true. So what were you saying about beating me and proving to Laxus that you don't need me?" he asked while continuing to destroy the dolls that Bixlow was trying to use to launch another attack at him.

"Exactly that you arrogant bastard!" shouted Bixlow as he tore off his helmet and locked eyes with the dragon slayer that instantly came to a stop. "You're not so high and mighty, are you, now that I have complete control over your body?" he asked while starting to laugh triumphantly at getting him with his Figure Eyes.

"I think that you're the one that is an arrogant bastard." replied Natsu as his eyes turned into red slits and he continued to stalk towards the now freaking out mage in front of him.

"That's not possible, you shouldn't be able to mo…" he started to protest before he was hit by a **FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST** that sent him into the ground. And when he finally looked back up he was met with an upset dragon slayer standing over him with the silhouette of a red dragon behind him.

"None of your fancy eye magic can stop the power of a dragon, which is exactly what I have coursing through me Bixlow." explained Natsu with red flames coating both of his fists. "And as for Laxus not seeing all of you as his bitches, then please explain to me why he didn't tell me to not attack any of you?" he asked before laying into the mage with a few fiery punches to his head and chest.

"He didn't say that because any normal person would have assumed that wouldn't need to be clarified, you fucking psycho." spat out Bixlow as he coughed up some blood in the process. Now wondering what he was going to do to get out of this mess since his Figure Eyes had no effect on his opponent.

"That's where you're wrong, Laxus specifically said that I was supposed to fight anyone with the Fairy Tail emblem on them." he replied while prying open the mage's mouth and pulling out his tongue that has said emblem on it. "And I've always wondered why you chose to have it on here of all places. I've got the urge to remove it from such an idiotic place, but if I did that then you couldn't tell my why you put it there now could you?" he asked with a wicked grin as Bixlow's expression showed how terrified of him he was right now.

"Well it seems like the rain is starting to let up, meaning that those two are finally getting to the end of their fight. So I guess I better be on my way, otherwise one of them will probably kill the other one and I definitely don't want that. **FIRE DRAGON'S GRIP STRIKE!** " said Natsu while holding Bixlow by his face, causing the man to let out a horrid scream until his unconscious body was dropped to the ground. As the man responsible headed into the outskirts of town where he knew he could find two women fighting to the death at the moment.

 **End of chapter**

 **Author's Notes:**

 **So as always thanks for spending your valuable time to read the latest chapter of this story of mine, and I really hope that you enjoyed it. Now initially I wasn't planning on this not taking more than just one chapter to cover, but as soon as I started writing I realized that wasn't going to happen. So like I usually do when I come to a realization like that, I said screw it and decided it would take however long it would take. So who knows, maybe I'll be able to wrap up the rest of this arc in the next chapter, or maybe not since I still have to have the showdown between Natsu and a few other characters that you could probably guess. Well I guess that's all I have to say for this one as of right now, so feel free to leave me a review or PM and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.**

 **Until the next Chapter**

 **Digem Out!**


	14. Going Too Far

Ch 14: Going Too Far

 **Back at the guildhall:**

"And what exactly do you find so funny about all of this?" asked Levy as she glared at the iron dragon slayer, with a look that would have made anyone else cower in fear. She thought that he must be taking some sort of enjoyment at watching the other members of the guild get slowly crossed off one by one after being forced into fighting each other.

"Easy there shrimp, just take a look at the most recent named crossed off and you'll understand why I'm chuckling." he replied while not even sparing a glance her way as he intently watched the door way that filled them in on what was going on in the city.

"I don't really see how that is going to make…" she replied, only to trail off as she read that Bixlow was eliminated from the festival by an unknown source. She was about to ask the dragon slayer if he had any idea why Natsu would all of a sudden turn on the people he was working for. But the distinctive sound of cracking caused her to hold her tongue as they all turned to the stage with the petrified girls still on it. All of them having the same horrified look come over their faces as they noticed the cracks forming on Erza, but before any of them could do anything they watched as the stone crumbled away and said woman fell to her knees.

"I'm going to make that snobbish bitch regret ever doing that to me." she growled out while getting back up.

"How in the hell did she break free?" asked Gajeel with a complete look of disbelief on his face.

"I would have to guess it's because of her artificial eye." mumbled Levy, thinking that was the only logical explanation that she could come up with.

"You'd be correct about that Levy, and it would seem that we couldn't have asked for a better time for her to return to us." stated Makarov as he pointed to the doorway that showed their numbers being down to the single digits.

"Master, what exactly is going on?" asked the scarlet haired knight as she looked at her fellow guild mates still petrified on the stage. Barely being able to keep her rage contained as she looked at her family obviously being in some sort of danger that she once again couldn't prevent.

"Laxus is using them as hostages to try and prove that he should be running the guild." he replied, shocked when Erza after hearing this headed straight towards the exit. "Wait just a minute Erza, there is more going on here that you should know about." he said, which seemed to get the pissed off knight to stop a few feet away from the doorway.

"Is Evergreen responsible for us being his hostages?" she asked in a calm tone that slightly surprised them.

"Yes she is, but like I said before Erza, there are other things going on that you should probably be informed about." he answered with a slight smile since it seemed as if Erza was going to listen to him. That is, until a small smirk spread across her lips as she once again started to head towards the door.

"Then all I need to do to end this is take her out so he no longer has any hostages." she stated causing most of their mouths to drop open in disbelief. "And I'm confident that whatever else you were trying to tell me about can be handled by either of them." she said while pointing up at the tally of participating members that was currently two more than the number it was when they last looked at it.

"Erza, wait just a minute for crying out loud!" shouted Makarov, already knowing that she was completely focused on her new mission that she had just set for herself. So all he could do was let out a tired sigh and hope that she would get lucky and not run into him, since that would probably be awkward for her after what happened the last time they saw each other.

"Who in the world is she talking about, because she can't actually think that it is Salamander coming in to save the day again?" Gajeel asked with a perplexed expression on his face.

"I hope she doesn't." mumbled Levy to herself, knowing that Erza would probably take it harder than most of the guild once she found out that Natsu was once again being used against them. "Who she was most likely referring to are two of our guild's strongest mages, Mystogan or Gildarts. If it's Gildarts then this little plan of Laxus' is as good as finished." she stated with a slight smile.

"What if it's the other one?" he asked, knowing that Gildarts was seen even less at the guild than the mysterious Mystogan.

"Then our chances of stopping my idiotic grandson are a whole lot better than they were just a few minutes ago." replied Makarov while still having an uncertain and concerned expression to his visage.

"Even with Salamander being a complete wildcard?" asked the dragon slayer that definitely wanted to wait a little longer before trying his luck against that monster again.

"Unfortunately I don't know if even he will be enough to stop Natsu, if the boy's properly motivated then there isn't much out there that can." he answered while shaking his head. He just hoped that his grandson would be smart enough to not provoke the fire dragon slayer if they eventually faced off against each other. Because he had a strong feeling that Laxus would possibly mention Natsu's biggest regrets, which seemed like a sure fire way to get him to completely lose it.

"That reminds me." stated Levy as she looked back up from her work and was staring at the dragon slayer still with them. "Why in the world would Natsu all of a sudden turn on Laxus and the Thunder Legion?" she asked with an expression that said she would wait until she got her answers.

"My first guess would be that they said something to piss him off, the man has an extremely short fuse these days." answered Gajeel, as he did a nervous gulp after finally looking at the resident bookworm glaring at him. "Or he might just be fulfilling his contract; your arrogant grandson seems like the kind of guy that would purposely have it where Salamander would eventually fight against him. I can't see him liking all of the attention Salamander has been getting recently, not to mention rumors going around about him being the strongest mage to come from Fairy Tail." he finished before going back to eating some more silverware.

"Knowing Laxus that is exactly what's going on here." replied Makarov with a faint smile, imagining how his grandson is probably going to soon regret that decision of his.

 **With Ikaruga and Juvia:**

Both women now looked way worse than they did just a few hours earlier, which just showed how intense the battle was between the two of them. Juvia didn't have any new tears or cuts to her person or outfit, but judging by the way she was staggering and could barely stand it was evident that she was exhausted both magically and physically. As for Ikaruga, it looked like she had gotten into a fight with a wood chipper and just barely made it out alive. Her kimono was barely clinging to her and could barely even be considered a proper garment anymore since it just barely covered her essential parts.

"It would seem that we're actually pretty evenly matched, wouldn't you agree, Juvy?" asked Ikaruga while somehow still having that smug smirk of hers.

"Juvia would have annihilated you if we remained near water." she panted out, trying to keep her guard up but was having a really hard time just remaining on her feet.

"But we didn't, and now I'm going to enjoy myself as I get rid of my mate's creepy stalker." replied the sword mistress as she started to close the distance between the two of them.

"Juvia isn't a sta… AHHH!" she started to say, only for it to turn into a pain filled scream as she clutched a large cut just given to her on the right side of her stomach.

"I think I've heard enough of your crazy talk for an entire lifetime." stated Ikaruga with a stern expression, now on the other side of the water mage. "So let's figure out how physical pain you can take, since you're too drained of your magic to turn into water like you were constantly doing before." she continued to say as a slightly evil smirk spread across her face.

Juvia was about to say something back, but before she could she once again shouted out in pain from receiving another slash from the sword mistress. And this carried on for the next few minutes until she was on her knees with some pretty severe wounds with Ikaruga standing victoriously in front of her.

"Any final words Juvy?" she asked once again having a smirk on her lips.

"Go to hell." Juvia spat out while she was defiantly glaring up at the pink haired assassin.

"Stubborn to the very end, well you've at least got that in common with him." she replied while bringing up her sword for the final strike. She locked eyes with Juvia as she brought her sword down, only to stop just a centimeter away from removing the water mage's head from her shoulders. And the reason she did this was because she could have sworn she heard Natsu's voice in her head telling her that was enough.

"Go ahead and get it over with already." shouted out the water mage thinking that this was the sword mistress just toying with her.

"As much as I would love to, it seems that I can't because of someone thinking I'm better than this." replied Ikaruga while putting her sword away and turning away from her defeated opponent.

"Who in their right mind would think something like that?" she asked her back in a flabbergasted tone.

"That would be me." replied Natsu as he casually strolled into the street. "And if you recall correctly, I thought the same thing about you when you were a member of Phantom and even when you were trying to figure out what to do after it was shut down." he said with a small smile sent her way.

"Natsu-sama?" she asked hesitantly, hoping that her tired mind wasn't playing tricks with her.

"The one and only." he replied with a little chuckle as he got right in front of her. He was then slightly caught off guard when Juvia lunged at him and almost took him to the ground. "I'm happy to see you too." he once again said with a little chuckle.

"You said that you would visit." she said just loud enough for him to hear her as she continued to cling to him.

"I know, but I've been a little busy since the last time we met." he responded while giving her a soft smile that would have shocked the rest of Fairy Tail if they saw it. "But I'm here right now, aren't I?" he asked with a little chuckle that he instantly lost when Juvia glared back up at him.

"For how long?" she demanded to know.

"Not for long." he replied with a frown slowly forming on his visage.

"Why?" she asked while still giving him a glare.

"Because I highly doubt that I'll be welcomed with open arms after what we've been up to lately." he answered while Ikaruga could only let out a little chuckle at the thought of them just strolling into Fairy Tail after everything is all said and done. This caused Juvia to start glaring at the woman who could only chuckle more at seeing her like that while still hugging Natsu.

"I'll give you two some alone time and get back to what we're supposed to be doing." stated Ikaruga as she started to stroll away from the two of them and giving a quick wave over her shoulder.

"Is it true?" asked Juvia, while staring intently into his eyes.

"You're going to have to be a little more specific than that Juvia." he stated with a little smirk that he lost after she didn't smile back at him.

"Do you already have two mates?" she asked him nervously, no longer being able to look him in the eyes.

Hearing this and seeing how upset she was about it caused Natsu to let out a tired sigh, he had a feeling that she wasn't going to take the news of this very well. "Yes it is, but before you hit me and decide to never speak with me again, please let me explain myself." he said, and was happy to see her nod her head and wait for him to explain himself. And for the next few minutes he explained the mating habits of dragon slayers and how Ikaruga and Ultear became his mates.

"So all I need to do is share a kiss with you and then you'll know if I'm one of your mates?" she asked with a slight blush.

"Yeah, that is pretty much all there is to it. All it takes to figure out if someone is one of my mates is for the two of us to share a kiss that we both are willing to do ." he said looking over at her since they moved to one of the few benches not destroyed during the two women's encounter. "But after we do that there really isn't any way for us to go back to how it used to be, and you do realize that you'd have to share me if you are in fact one of my mates." he stated, wanting to make sure that she understood everything completely.

"For now at least." she mumbled to herself, forgetting how good his sense of hearing was.

"You will not get rid of any of them, I won't allow it." he said in a menacing tone while glaring at her as well. This caused her to get the message loud and clear since it reminded her of how he was when he completely demolished her old guild.

"Fine, Juvia won't try to get rid of any of her love rivals." she said after letting out a huff and having a slight pout on her face.

"Good, well I guess I should get back to it then." replied Natsu while getting back up and intended on heading towards one of the few places that still had fighting going on. But he stopped when he felt a soft tug on his sleeve, and when he turned back to ask Juvia what she wanted he was shocked when his lips ran into hers. After his slight shock he deepened the kiss, something that clearly took Juvia by surprise since she let out a little moan. The kiss lasted until both of them needed air; apparently Juvia needed it way more than he did since she almost passed out as soon as they separated. Then again that could also possibly be attributed to her overactive imagination that was more than likely already imagining their children only after having shared their first kiss together.

"You're definitely one of a kind Juvia." he said while giving her a tender kiss on the forehead as he laid her back down on the bench. With a little smirk he started to head off in the direction that he planned on going to before she surprised him with that kiss, which was when he noticed that the fighting seemed to be resolved. So with a shrug of his shoulders he started to head the other way since it appeared that something else was going on over there.

 **At Fairy Tail:**

"So that ladies, is what we're dealing with right now." explained Makarov to the recently freed girls.

"Since we're no longer his hostages, shouldn't this be done by now?" asked Lucy as a few of the other girls nodded their heads in agreement.

"I'm guessing Laxus is going to play this out to the bitter end." he replied with a frown while shaking his head once again at his foolish grandson.

"You'd be correct about that Gramps." said a hologram of Laxus that appeared in the doorway. And instantly Makarov could tell that he wasn't happy with how things were currently going for him.

"It doesn't have to be Laxus; you can stop all of this nonsense right now. You've lost, you no longer have Evergreen or Bixlow backing you up and you also don't have the girls as your hostages anymore either." he pointed out, hoping that his grandson would see that it was over.

"I'll be honest and say that I'm a little surprised that those two lost like they did, but Titania and Salamander are definitely worthy opponents. But this little festival of mine is far from over, especially when I've got the Thunder Palace to hold the entire city as my hostages. You've now got just an hour to either hand over the guild to me gramps, or hope that one of your precious little brats can take me down before then." replied Laxus only to then break out into a crazed laughter before cutting off his connection to them.

"He wouldn't." stated Makarov with a horrified expression coming over his elderly face.

"He wouldn't do what Master?" asked Cana as she came up to him. But before he could reply Bisca came back into the guild with a worried look on her face.

"You guys should take a look outside, these weird orbs all of a sudden appeared in the sky surrounding Magnolia." she said causing the other girls to rush towards the exit, but they all came to a stop when a small thud was heard coming from behind them.

"Master!" called out a few of them in a worried tone as they watched him clench his chest while now on his back, that was on the floor. "We need to get Porlyusica now!" shouted out Cana as she took off, intent on doing just that. She didn't know that a certain blonde decided to tag along with her just in case she needed some backup.

"I guess I'll go and try to figure out what I can about those weird orbs above the city." stated Bisca as Gajeel started to carry Makarov to the infirmary where he would have to wait for the guild's unofficial healer to arrive.

 **With Freed:**

"The only members left are Erza, Mystogan and the rest of the girls that were released from Evergreen's petrify." said Freed to a small hologram of Laxus that was floating about on his outstretched hand. Underneath him was the beaten form of Elfman, who was also released from Evergreen's petrify like the other girls and decided to try and participate again. This of course was something that Freed couldn't stand for since he was all about rules and order, not caring for anyone that would willingly disrupted either of them.

"You're forgetting about Natsu and his girlfriend." replied Laxus with a huge grin spread across his face.

"I told you that he wasn't going to go along with all of this." he stated with an upset expression, knowing that he was the only one capable of taking out Bixlow.

"Actually he is, I hired him to take out anyone with the Fairy Tail emblem on them and that is exactly what he's doing." stated Laxus to the shock of Freed. "And seeing how easily he dealt with Bixlow I'm even more excited to face off against him. But I think he might need a little motivation since he seems fine with taking out whoever he happens to run into. So why don't you give him a little push." he said with a wicked grin before cutting off his side of the communication lacrima.

"And how in the hell am I supposed to do that?" Freed asked out loud, only for him to spot a certain barmaid frantically looking around just on the outskirts of the city. He knew that she was off limits and that if he so much as touched her in a threatening way that Natsu would more than likely be out for his blood. But that didn't mean he couldn't do something that would upset her and then more than likely upset the fire dragon slayer into going after him and Laxus. This was something that he would rather not do at all, but it was what Laxus wanted him to do so he didn't really have a choice in it.

"Sorry about this Elfman, but you really should have stayed out of this after you were first knocked out." he said while glaring down at the still knocked out takeover mage. So with a few quick swipes of his fingers he sent a string of runes at the downed man, only for him to let out a loud gasp as he regained consciousness.

"What the hell is going on?" asked Elfman as he looked up at Freed standing over him with a sword pointed at his neck.

"You're going to help us upset Natsu." he replied with a blank expression.

"And how exactly am I going to do that?" asked the only male Strauss.

"With your screams, **DARK ECRITURE: PAIN.** " he answered in monotone voice as he sent the runes he wrote out with his sword at the still extremely confused mage beneath him. The next second Elfman let out a loud scream as he started to writhe on the ground in the hopes of lessening the pain he was currently feeling.

"That's not loud enough, Elfman, I need your sister to hear you." stated Freed still with a blank expression on his face. " **DARK ECRITURE: PAIN.** " he said while sending another one at the takeover mage, but was shocked when rather than getting more screams of pain like he expected. He actually got less and was also shocked to see Elfman now glaring up at him with a determined look, clearly not willing to involve his older sister in this if he had anything to say about it.

"Interesting, I never would have guessed that you of all people could withstand two doses of my DARK ECRITURE: PAIN. My guess is you're only able to do this since you don't want to fail your sister like you did last time, which resulted with poor little Lisanna being taken away from us." said Freed with a faint smirk coming over his lips.

"DON'T YOU DARE!" growled out Elfman as he got up to his knees and looked at the green haired mage with nothing but contempt.

 **"DARK ECRITURE: PAIN!"** he replied with his smirk getting a little bigger as he could visually see Elfman struggling to not scream out in pain. "I'll hand it to you, being able to handle three of these isn't something that most mages can deal with. But it probably isn't much when compared to the fact that you have to wake up each morning knowing that you killed your own little sister. Not only that, but being able to come back to the guild and pretend that everything is okay even though everyone else can only see the scum that killed his sister." he finished with a full on smirk as Elfman now screamed out to the heavens. But what he wasn't expecting was to then be promptly sent flying from the man that shouldn't be able to move because of the pain that he should be feeling.

"YOU'LL REGRET SAYING THAT TO ME!" bellowed Elfman as he charged at Freed with a murderous look in his eyes.

 **"DARK ECRITURE: FEAR!"** shouted Freed before the behemoth of a man could land another punch on him. This resulted with Elfman falling to his knees and clutching his head as he screamed his lungs out. "Oh this is only the beginning, **DARK ECRITURE: PAIN!** " he shouted now glaring at his opponent. But he didn't stop there; he kept on sending it over and over again at the Strauss that was no longer able to do anything but scream out in agony.

"FREED!" came the shrill scream of Mirajane as she finally arrived on the scene. This caused the green haired swordsman to stop his constant barrage of spells sent at her younger brother so he could turn and get a good look at her.

"If it isn't the woman we've both been waiting for." he replied while giving her a creepy smile.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked with clenched fists, wondering what could be the reason for him to mercilessly attack her brother like that.

"Because Laxus wants Natsu to be at his best once they fight each other." he explained with a little smirk now coming over his visage.

"And attacking Elfman will accomplish that?" she asked while giving him one of her patented glares that could stop a guild wide brawl.

"I had hoped it would, but it would seem that I might need to go further if I want to get a good reaction out of you." he said while sending another spell Elfman's way, eliciting another pain filled scream that rang out across the city.

"Stop, just please don't hurt him. If you need to hurt anyone please do it to me." begged Mira, now once again feeling completely helpless when her family needed her the most.

"Sorry Mira, but I can't do that since I think he would literally kill me if I harmed you. Which leaves me with the only logical option of going back to hurting Elfman, **DARK ECRITURE: SUFFERING!** " he replied, which resulted with Elfman letting out his loudest scream of pain yet.

"Please Freed, please just stop!" she sobbed while falling to her knees and watching helplessly as her brother was being tortured right before her very eyes.

"I'll stop once Natsu finally takes notice of your suffering and comes here to stop me." replied Freed before going back to launching more spells at the already helpless Elfman, which only caused the large mage to scream out more as his sister continued to sob helplessly. "You should do something to bring Natsu here quickly, Mira. I don't know how much more your brother can take of this, or is that what you're waiting for? Do I need to kill Elfman for you to finally realize that I'm not messing around here?" he asked with a blank expression as he looked over his shoulder at her.

Upon hearing this Mira stopped crying and just froze there, stuck in her own mind as she relived events that led to Lisanna being taken away from her. Just like back then, she just watched from the sidelines as one of her family members was being taken away from her. But this time it was somehow even worse since Freed seemed completely fine with killing one of his fellow guild members, all just because Laxus told him to do whatever it took to get Natsu upset and ready to fight him.

Once again it seemed like all things these days came back to the pink haired dragon slayer, who used to be the person that they all looked to when they needed cheering up. Something that she was sure he could definitely use after everything he has had to go through in his life already. But at this moment he was once again on the other side when he should have been with them, leading the charge to protect the guild and its members. Unfortunately it didn't seem likely for that to happen, which was why she came out here in the first place, hoping that she could talk some sense into him.

But from the rumors that she and the rest of the guild have been hearing about him recently, these were the only type of jobs that he could get. Ones where it didn't matter how much damage he caused, so long as he took out the people that were opposing his client. And from how things have been going for the dragon slayer recently, she could suspect that it wasn't going to change for him anytime soon. Which he appeared to be completely fine with, even if it meant that he was going to have to face off against his old guild.

"You've left me no choice, Mirajane, I definitely would've preferred it if I didn't have to kill your brother. But I can't fail Laxus like the rest of my team have so far." he said with a frown, not realizing that he just snapped Mira out of her thoughts about Lisanna's final moments and about a certain dragon slayer that the world seemed to have a grudge against for some unknown reason.

Hearing that he did in fact plan on killing Elfman right in front of her caused something in the barmaid to snap, she let out a bone chilling scream. But along with that scream came an overwhelming sense of dread for anyone in a quarter mile radius of Mira as waves of what could only be described as dark magic started to flow from her. This caused Freed to stop momentarily as he glanced back at the woman that was now surrounded in a purple aura, but other than that she still seemed to be just a simple barmaid. So he decided to go back to what he initially planned to do since so far it seemed to be working, because there was no way Natsu couldn't sense her right now.

But he wasn't the only one shocked by the sudden appearance of magic coming from Mira, she herself was probably the most stunned by this recent turn of events. Which caused her to remember a certain conversation she had with Natsu just a few months after Lisanna's death, it was around the time when she started to work at the bar and no longer held the title of active mage.

 **Flashback:**

"So how was your last job Natsu?" asked Mira as said dragon slayer and Happy came up to the bar with huge smiles spread across their mugs.

"You should have seen it Mira, those bandits didn't stand a chance against Natsu's roar." cheered Happy as he plopped down on the bar while grabbing a fish from his bag and starting to chow down on it.

"You wouldn't have happened to destroy anything of value while doing this, now did you?" she asked while looking at the pink haired teen with a knowing look as he looked away from her while rubbing the back of his head nervously.

"Only just a few of the things that we were supposed to get back from them is all." Natsu replied with a little laugh. "Unfortunately they were the most expensive things apparently, so we didn't get any of the reward." he finished just loud enough for her to hear him. This caused Mira to let out a little giggle that caused most of the guild to go silent and look at her as if she had a second head. Because it was the first time since Lisanna's passing that she ever let out a true giggle like she just did.

And the reason she let it out was because she finally got to see that Natsu was truly back to how he used to be before the incident. Which was him causing a mess on every job he took, most of the time barely coming back with any of the reward at all. But even after pretty much working for free he would return to the guild with that huge toothy grin of his and become the center of attention. Most of the time it was thanks to him starting a fight with Gray that would eventually lead to a guild wide brawl.

"What's so funny about me and Happy not getting any of our reward?" he asked with a grin that went from ear to ear.

"I'm just glad to know that some things will never change." she replied with a bright smile, that then quickly changed to a frown as she remembered that two huge changes happened to her recently. "But what I'm really curious about is how are you two always so happy after not getting any of your reward for all of the jobs that you complete?" she asked, trying to hide the frown that came along with those kind of thoughts.

She hoped that neither of them would notice it since she just recently convinced the rest of the guild that she was fine and didn't need them constantly asking her if she was okay any more. And to her relief it looked like they didn't since Natsu's grin didn't falter for a second like it usually would when he was concerned about one of his fellow guild members. While Happy on the other hand finished off the rest of his fish and looked up at her with a big smile.

"Either way I get more delicious fish once we return." replied Happy with a bright smile as Mira gave him a fish that she had been saving all day for his return to the guildhall.

"It looks like that might be something I need to change then." stated Natsu with a pensive look that just looked completely wrong on him. One that Mira could tell right away was fake, something that apparently Happy couldn't detect since he and Natsu promptly got into a heated argument that caused her to giggle at their antics. Only for the two of them to decide a few minutes later that they would keep things how they were to maintain balance.

"So why do you seem completely fine with barely getting any of the reward after completing a job?" she asked while looking at Natsu directly in the eyes. This caused the dragon slayer to once again have a pensive expression come over his face as he tried to come up with a coherent response.

"I guess I'm just happy to help out the less fortunate and it's never really been about the reward for me. It's about meeting new people and going to exciting new places and experiencing everything I can." he replied with fond smile coming over his face as he thought about some previous jobs that he really enjoyed.

"Figures, of course you are just trying to have as much fun as possible in all aspects of your life." she stated while having a slight smile spread across her lips.

"Isn't that what everyone else is doing?" he asked with a puzzled look as she shook her head at him and suppressed another round of giggles from escaping. And it was an extremely hard thing for her to do since his current expression was one that she really enjoyed seeing on him. "Well it's how Happy and I live our lives." he stated while grinning at his partner.

"Aye Sir!" cheered Happy as he gave Natsu a high five and then went back to eating a fish.

"You two wouldn't be yourselves if you didn't." she said while giving the duo a bright smile.

"Darn right, but I think it's time that we get back to training Happy." stated Natsu as he got up from the bar with Happy following after and actually passing him and flying out of the front doors in a blur. As Natsu came to the doors he stopped and turned back to see that Mira was watching him still. "Just so you know Mira, it's not gone despite whatever you might think. It's only being blocked for some reason, which I'm sure you'll figure out how to overcome when you really need to since you're one of the strongest people I've ever met." he said before exiting the guild and leaving an extremely confused barmaid behind.

 **End of Flashback:**

"I'm truly sorry that I have to do this Elfman." stated Freed as he started to spell out the runes for his next spell.

"Not again." mumbled Mira as her magic started to become less erratic and even grew to greater heights than before. This caused a certain someone to stop from tracing out the last rune of his spell and glance over at her since it felt like she was about to unleash a spell.

"What was that?" he asked, not knowing what else to say since he was slightly intrigued to see what she was planning on doing.

"I said not again, I'll never sit back again and watch as someone tries to take away my family from me as I sit by do nothing!" she yelled back as more of that dark magic radiated from her in overwhelming waves. " **TAKE OVER: SATAN SOUL!** " she shouted out as one final burst of magic shot out from her. And where the barmaid of Fairy Tail once stood, now in her place was what Freed could only describe as a pissed off demon.

Mira's overall figure remained similar to her usual form; she just now had a few additions that definitely made her a force to be reckoned with. From the bat like wings that sprouted from her back and allowed her to take to the skies, to the new tail that she could use for various things such as grabbing onto her opponent and tossing them aside. And where the barmaid once had soft and dainty little hands, she now had claws that looked razor sharp. With this take over, the only other things to change for her were the cracks that now appeared on various locations on her body. And she also was now in a very revealing outfit that truly left nothing to the imagination, with the final change being her hair now sticking up which gave her an even more intimidating appearance for some reason.

"So the She Demon has finally decided to come out and play." he replied after getting over the slight shock of seeing her actually do a take over. "But guess what, I don't see Natsu yet, which means I've still got a job to do. **DARK ECRITURE: DEATH!** " he shouted out as a Mira could only look on in horror, knowing that she wouldn't be able to get there in time since she was still a little rusty.

In that exact moment it felt like the whole world came to a complete stop around her, letting her take in everything that she could see. Looking over at her little brother who somehow had a smile on his face as he looked back at her in his final moments, making her want to cry right there. But that emotion soon turned to anger as her gaze focused on the man that was trying to take him away from her. And upon seeing his face her anger only rose, thanks to him having a completely blank expression as he mercilessly killed her last living relative. In that moment only one thing was on her mind and that was to kill him in the most excruciating way imaginable.

But before she could act on that impulse, in the blink of an eye a red blur smashed into Freed and took said mage farther away from the city where a fiery red explosion went off. This caused Mira to stop in her tracks and try to process what just happened, only for her to lose her train of thoughts as another large explosion of red flames erupted from the distance. She was about to chase after to figure out what was going on, that is until she heard a cough come from Elfman's direction.

"Elfman!" she shouted out while whirling around to look and see if he was the one that had just coughed. And what she saw brought her instantly to tears as she lunged at him and brought her brother into a tender hug.

"Too tight." he wheezed out. Causing his sister to quickly let go of him and start looking over his injures, which apparently weren't that bad on the outside. But they both knew that definitely wasn't the case for him overall, since Freed's magic targeted his sense of pain as well as his emotions.

"How are you still alive?" she asked still crying tears of joy as another loud explosion rang out.

"Because of you and Natsu." replied Elfman as he got into a comfortable sitting position. He knew that his sister was most likely going to be going after the pink haired dragon slayer now that she knew he was alright.

"Natsu…" she mumbled while glance over in the direction of the fight currently raging on.

"You should go after them." he coughed out while trying to give her a reassuring smile.

"I can't, you still need my help." she stated while giving him a stern glare.

"Yes you can and I insist that you do, Mira. I'll be completely fine on my own, and who knows the next time we'll ever see him." he said still smiling at her.

"But…" she started to say but got cut off by him.

"But nothing, I know that everything that has happened with him recently has been really hard on you." said Elfman with a frown now coming over his face. "Ever since he joined the guild, he's been a part of our family and I only wish I would've realized that back then. If I had then who knows what could have gone differently that day." he said in a somber tone that almost turned into a whisper at the end of it. "But I didn't, and even after causing him so much pain and suffering he never blamed either of us. He was even responsible for getting the both of us to realize that she never would have wanted us to blame ourselves. And only would have wanted us to both be happy, which means you need to go after him and help him like he helped us." he finished while wiping away a few tears that he couldn't hold back.

Mira honestly couldn't believe what she just heard from him, or the fact that he wasn't intimidated by her earlier glare. Probably because he was too determined to get all of that out and help push her into going after the dragon slayer currently destroying the countryside surrounding Magnolia. And after thinking over his words, she couldn't help but agree with everything he just said which meant that she had to go after him.

"Thanks Elfman." she said before taking off and flying in the direction that she knew the two were currently fighting at.

 **With Natsu and Freed:**

"Ooohhh Freeeeeed!" sang out Natsu as he continued to chase after his prey that was just barely avoiding his devastating attacks that were completely annihilating whatever he hit instead of the green haired mage. And the only reason that Freed was able to keep this up was thanks to him quickly casting DARK ECRITURE: WINGS after the initial attack.

Currently the only thought running through the green haired mage's head was for the love of god keep moving. Since he knew that if he didn't he would definitely be on the receiving end of another powerful attack. Luckily the first one that Natsu dealt to him was obviously a new move of his that enhanced his speed and prevented Elfman from being murdered. Something that Freed was actually thankful for since that was definitely something you can never come back from.

"Are you just going to keep running from me?" asked Natsu as he continued to try and smash the rune mage's face into the ground. "Because even that pussy Bixlow, put up more of a fight than you currently are. Well that is until I made him scream out for mercy and had him screaming for Laxus or you to come and save him." he said while coming to a stop. Only to lean back as a sword whizzed through the spot that used to contain his head, which caused his grin to grow.

"He didn't you fucking liar!" shouted out Freed as he continued to slash at Natsu, who only just dodged them as he waited for just the right moment to strike back.

"Oh he did Freed, he begged for me to show him some mercy." he said before jumping over a slash at his knees. "I thought you guys were supposed to be the strongest team in Fairy Tail?" he asked while twisting and turning to dodge the attacks just by mere centimeters.

"We are." growled out the rune mage, knowing that Natsu definitely wouldn't give him enough time to cast any of his spells.

"Really, because it was quite easy for me to finish off that freak and I was actually planning on doing the same thing to Evergreen." he said with a sly grin. "Actually that is wrong, I was going to make that self-righteous bitch learn her place by making her mine." he finished with a little chuckle as Freed's attacks started to become hectic and actually started to leave behind small cuts.

"Does that upset you Freed? Knowing that I was going to make her mine and that she would be calling me master and doing whatever I told her to." asked Natsu as he landed a hard punch to his opponent's chest, which sent him skidding back a few feet.

"She never would have done any of that for you." he growled out while his free hand clutched his chest.

"Maybe, but Erza stepped in and took her out before I had the chance to try. Which didn't upset me since it meant that I now had the chance to go up against Erza, who was definitely going to put up more of a fight than any of you guys have so far." stated Natsu as he looked at all of the new holes in his coat, luckily none of them came near his armband.

"You're making it sound like you didn't get to for some reason." he said while getting ready to strike at the dragon slayer at a moment's notice.

"You'd be correct, because some asshole decided to go and start fucking around with one of the few people that I specifically said were off limits." replied Natsu now using a deep tone as dark red flames started to swirl around him menacingly. "So I'm like, okay I'll go and make whoever this dipshit is realize how bad they've fucked up. But on my way there they decided to go so far that Mira is forced to try and use her magic to stop them from whatever idiotic thing they were doing. And I'm honestly grateful that you helped her get her magic back, but you did it by threatening to kill her brother!" he shouted out as his flames exploded from him and destroyed everything around him in a ten yard radius. Luckily for Freed he was able to fly away from it just in time, but as he did that he lost sight of Natsu.

 **"FIRE DRAGON'S CRUSHING IRON FIST!"** came the shout of Natsu from right above him. And the next thing Freed knew he was being smashed into the ground, causing a small crater to from around the area where he hit. He let out a pained moan as he started to get back up only for his eyes to widen and roll to the right as fast as humanly possible.

 **"FIRE DRAGON'S CRUSHING TALON!"** yelled Natsu as his flaming foot smashed into the spot that used to contain the green haired mage's head just a second ago. Freed's mouth dropped wide open as he watched Natsu pull his foot from a two feet deep hole that he just created.

"What's with the face, Freed?" asked Natsu as he started to walk towards the mage backpedaling away from him with a terrified expression.

"Y-y-y-y-you…" he stuttered out.

"Yes Freed, I'm trying to kill you." replied Natsu as he glared down the man that pissed him off more than Gray did somehow today. "What did you expect when I just stopped you from killing Elfman, who might I add is a fellow guild member of yours?" he asked back while condensing the fire around him to just his feet and hands. This left Freed speechless, since what did he expect to happen after he almost just murdered someone only to help Laxus try and reach his goals.

He was about to surrender and apologize to the two Strauss siblings for his earlier actions and hope that they could eventually forgive him. But the next second he felt an intense heat coming towards right cheek, which resulted with him being launched and tumbling across the ground. When his body finally came to a stop he didn't even get time to try and get up before a flaming foot connected with his gut and sent him flying into the air. And just as Freed reached the peak he regained enough composure to look back down at what he was falling towards.

Which of course was Natsu Dragneel standing there with a menacing look on his face with red flames dancing around his hands as they grew in size. " **FIRE DRAGON'S BRILLIANT FLAME!** " he shouted out while bringing both of his hands together and then throwing the giant ball of flames at the mage coming down towards him.

 **"DARK ECRITURE: REFLECT!"** shouted Freed as he hastily inscribed the runes in the air just before he would've been engulfed by the most recent attack sent his way. And to his relief he watched the huge ball of red fire fly the other direction and cause an enormous explosion on impact.

"I'm surprised that you were actually able to deflect that one, but I'm guessing that is the most you're able to do with it." stated Natsu as he casually walked out of the smoke and wreckage that his last attack caused. Making Freed want to smack himself for forgetting the giant fact that fire was completely pointless against a fire dragon slayer.

"You're right, and I want to apologize for this and surrender." replied Freed as he put his sword away, hoping that it would show Natsu he was serious about it.

"Funny that you think you still have that option." he said with a little chuckle as Freed nervously gulped at hearing him say that.

"Why wouldn't I?" Freed asked while once again starting to back away from Natsu.

"I don't know, maybe because if I hadn't been there then Elfman would be dead right now which is more than enough to justify me ending you. Or how about you doing all of that just to upset Mira in the hopes of luring me out and into a fight." he answered while sneering at his ex-guild member that he barely interacted with.

"But I didn't kill him and Mira is fine." refuted Freed as he started to feel like an animal backed into a corner.

"I know, because if you had then you'd already be reduced to nothing more than a pile of ashes by now. But seeing as how your precious Laxus is now threatening all of Magnolia I need to know how to stop him. After which I'll promise to finish you off painlessly." he stated while slowly closing the gap between them.

"You're still going to kill me after I help you?" asked Freed, hoping that he misheard him.

"Yep, and it's because I honestly think the world wouldn't miss a piece of shit like you." he said while cocking his head slightly to the left.

 **"DARK ECRITURE: DARKNESS!"** shouted out Freed, resulting in his body being covered in darkness. Only to then fade away and reveal that he was slightly bulkier, now almost completely covered in black fur with the few spots that weren't being a dark gray complexion. And along with those changes he now had horns coming from his head giving him an overall demonic appearance that exuded a lot of power.

Freed hoped that this would startle Natsu and allow him to get a few good hits in on him, which would hopefully let him escape from the clearly insane dragon slayer. But the first punch he threw was stopped effortlessly just an inch away from striking his intended target. And before he could pull it back and try again he felt a sharp twist, while at the same time his fist felt like it was being crushed.

"You just had to do this the hard way didn't you?" asked Natsu as he glared at Freed who was now on his knees. From Freed's current position he could now see that there were scales underneath the dragon slayer's eyes, and it also looked as if the scales were also on his forearms as well. "To think that you four just threw away something that most people would kill to have a chance at having just for a few days." he said while in one quick motion positioned himself behind Freed and twisted the man's arm until a loud pop was heard by both of them.

"You were part of a family that would literally do almost anything for each other, but what do you idiots do?" he asked, being slightly caught off guard when Freed head butted him and took off in the other direction as fast as he possibly could. This only caused Natsu let out a deep chuckle before taking off after the mage fleeing from him. " **FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!** " he bellowed as he appeared right in front of Freed and sent him crashing back down to the ground in a torrent of flames.

"And as I was saying, you fucking idiots go ahead and try to take over the guild just so Laxus could feel important." stated Natsu as he landed next to the now slightly burnt Freed, who was then pushed back down to the ground by one of his feet. "Don't get me wrong, Freed, I wouldn't mind seeing Makarov kicked out of Fairy Tail and forced to never come back. But you assholes decided to involve some of the people that I actually still care about, which is somewhat okay since they're members of the guild. **FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FISTS!** " he said, before starting to savagely hit Freed over and over again only to stop once the rune mage stopped trying to fight back and now lay there completely helpless.

"Now Laxus is going so far as to try and threaten all of Magnolia just because things aren't going his way anymore. Oh and he also apparently gave you the fucking okay to go and kill Elfman just so Mira would become upset, and then just maybe I'd go and fucking fight him." he shouted out while having his foot firmly placed on said mage's throat just enough to keep him under control. While also causing the poor mage to barely get enough air to breathe properly.

"So I'm only going to ask you this once, Freed. How can I get rid of those orbs threatening to destroy all of Magnolia?" he asked while lessening the pressure on the other mage's throat.

"You can't." answered Freed, only to have an extremely terrified look come over his face when looking up at Natsu. "But please let me explain." he begged since he could have sworn that the expression Natsu made was going to be the final thing he ever saw. But seeing as he was still alive at the moment, it meant that the dragon slayer was at least willing to hear him out for a few more seconds.

"You can't because he's used Organic Link magic on them as well, which means you can't destroy them without them hitting you back." he hurriedly explained, and would have been shocked at the thoughtful expression that came over Natsu's face if he wasn't completely terrified for his life right now.

"Smart move on his part; so is there anything else I should know before you depart on your final journey?" asked Natsu as he gave Freed one final creepy grin as he started to build up his magic.

"That I'm sorry." he mumbled back while closing his eyes and waited for his imminent demise.

"And that means absolutely nothing to me these days, but you can at least take some comfort in knowing that most of Fairy Tail would probably forgive you after everything you did today." said Natsu as red flames started to form on his right hand, to the point that you couldn't see his hand anymore. "Unfortunately I'm not a member and even if I was I don't think I would ever be able to. Because despite how sorry you might be it can never take back what you did or what transpired because of your actions." he finished with a sad frown going across his face.

"Farewell Freed Justine, **FIRE DRAGON'S DEMOLISHING STRI** …" he said as his red flames looked like they were forming a large and sharp claw. But something completely unexpected happened before he could finish his move and send Freed over to the other side.

" **DEMON BLAST!** " came the menacing voice of Mira as he was promptly blasted away from Freed and skidded a few feet until he connected with a rocky cliff edge.

"So you're finally back, the She Demon of Fairy Tail." replied Natsu as he let out a little grunt of pain as he got out of the small indentation he just created with his body. He wasn't able to hide the small smirk that slowly came over his lips as he looked at the shocked Freed who couldn't figure out why Mira of all people just saved him.

"Yes Natsu, and I didn't want to do that to you, but I couldn't think of any other way to stop you." she said while looking at him with uncertainty clearly written all over her usually bright and cheerful face.

"Are you sure you didn't get a little satisfaction out of hitting me like that? Because I can definitely remember when it was one of your favorite things to do, well that and get me to cry and tease me about how cute I look while doing it." he said with a little chuckle as he slowly walked towards them.

"Yes I am and that was years ago Natsu, I was just a stupid girl back then and didn't know any better." she replied, already not liking where their conversation was heading.

"That's where you're wrong Mira, you had it completely correct back then." he stated with a smirk as Mira's expression changed to one of shock. "Those with power are free to do whatever they want in this world. And before you start arguing with me about how that isn't how the real world works let me explain myself." he continued to say, noticing that Mira did in fact want to argue with him on that.

"Yes there are slight exceptions to this rule, which mainly come about when groups of weaker people come together. Which is actually a different form of power, but that isn't the point I'm trying to make here. Whether it's the Council, Kingdom, or some random dark guild, they all go about doing whatever they feel like since they currently have enough power to back themselves up. Until someone or something else finally has enough of it and puts a stop to them." he explained now only just a few feet in front of her.

"You don't believe that." she said in hopes that he would crack one of his toothy grins at her and agree with her.

"I didn't want to, but after everything I've been through in my life so far I can no longer deny it. It's the reason I'm no longer a member of Fairy Tail and why I'm in my current position, all because those with more power than me decided to do what they wanted." he answered while looking her dead in the eyes with a completely serious expression on his face.

"Natsu, I…" replied Mira with a sad yet also concerned look on her visage.

"This isn't really the time for us to be discussing things like this." he said while cutting her off. "So if you would step aside, I can finish what I was planning on doing just a few moments ago." he continued to say while trying to step around the woman blocking him. But was once again face to face with her, but her expression was now one of complete and utter determination as they locked eyes.

"I can't let you do that Natsu." she said while her magic power started to rise. She knew that if he went through and killed Freed like he planned, then that small bit of hope that she and a few other members were holding out for him eventually returning to the guild would be completely destroyed.

"And why the hell not?" he snapped back at her as his magic power rose to heights even greater than hers. "He was just about to fucking kill Elfman right in front of your very eyes. All for the stupid reason of trying to get me angry, well guess fucking what? It worked and now these assholes are going to pay!" he shouted at her while actually bearing his fangs at her.

"Because he's also a member of my family, everyone in Fairy Tail is!" she shouted back, hoping to hide the fact that she was actually afraid of the Natsu standing before her at the moment. "And yes he was about to do something unspeakable, which I'll never truly forgive him for." she continued to shout at him, while also quickly giving Freed a deadly glare. "But that doesn't mean we should stoop to his level, we're better than that. You're better than that." she finished while lowering her voice to just above a whisper at the end of it.

"A different life time ago, maybe I was?" he replied in a blank tone, no longer shouting at her. "And there aren't really any sort of levels Mira, the only thing that truly matters is if you're able to wake up the next morning and live with your decisions of the previous day." he said still in that tone that sounded so wrong since he used to always sound so energetic and full of life before whenever he talked with anyone.

"And would you be able to do that if I let you kill him?" asked Mira hesitantly, not knowing if she really wanted to hear his response.

"Yes, but only because I've already got bigger regrets than removing another piece of shit from this world." he answered with his head down so she could no longer see his facial expressions. "Now answer me this, Mira. Are you willing to fight against me in order to protect the very same man that would have killed your brother if I didn't come just in the nick of time? Knowing that it will more than likely ruin whatever bonds that we might still have between the two of us." he asked still with his head down as the two of them stood there in silence for a few more minutes.

"Yes, because if I didn't then those same bonds would still be broken." she replied while getting back into a fighting stance. In her mind she was praying and hoping that it wouldn't turn out this way, but some part of her knew that it would most likely end this way with him. It seemed like fate loved to mess with the two of them, never letting either of them have a normal happy life that they both yearned for. And as she waited in silence to see what his response would be, she felt like a little part of her was about to break. The last thing she ever wanted was to actually face off against Natsu like this, as enemies, knowing that she would have to go all out against him if she hoped to stand a chance. And even then she didn't know if she could win against him since she just got her magic back and he was apparently able to take on two different Wizards Saints.

What she wasn't expecting to hear from the dragon slayer was a sad little chuckle as he finally lifted his head back up. This allowed her to see him giving her a sad little smile that made him look like he was barely clinging on at the moment. "Figures, all of you women from Fairy Tail are way too stubborn for your own good. And I probably don't have any room to talk, well I guess I should probably head back into town and stop that moron from destroying it." he said only to turn away from her and start heading in the direction of Magnolia.

"We're not going to fight?" she asked as a confused expression washed over her face.

"Nope, did you want us to?" he asked while continuing to walk away from the two of them. Both members of Fairy Tail completely shocked by this recent turn of events, Freed happy that he was still alive while Mira was happy that she wasn't going to be forced to go up against him.

"No, but I thought you were going to kill him." she said while gesturing over her shoulder at the still downed Freed.

"I was and still might, but I've got better things to do at the moment." he responded while stopping to give said mage a deadly glare to show that he wasn't making a terrible joke. However, he didn't notice the slight smile that came over the barmaid's face while he said that back to her.

"You're not going to go and kill Laxus, are you?" she asked him still with a smile barely gracing her lips. She was unable to hide it since she had a strong suspicion that Natsu stopped with his plan of killing Freed, just so that he wouldn't break their current bonds like he mentioned earlier.

"Honestly it's what the arrogant prick deserves for all of this shit, but I have a feeling that you won't let me do that will you?" he asked while having his back to her and Freed.

"You know I wouldn't." she replied now with a small smile clearly spread across her lips.

"Figures, hey Mira." he said while once again starting to walk towards Magnolia.

"Yes?" she said while raising her voice slightly since he was slowly getting farther away from her.

"Don't change at all." he stated with a little chuckle before disappearing from their sight.

"Thank you and I'm truly sorry about what I was going to do." mumbled Freed as he tried to get up, but failed miserably thanks to his injuries.

"I didn't do it for you, and like I told him I'll never be able to completely forgive you for what you almost did." she snapped back at him, causing the mage to cower in fear. "Now let's get you back to the guild so Porlyusica can have a look at you once she gets there." she said not knowing that the healer was already there. Looking over the weak form of Makarov, not liking what she was currently seeing.

 **At Kardia Cathedral:**

A lone figure with blonde hair could be seen sitting on the steps right in front of the alter. And upon closer inspection one could easily see that the man was seething with anger as he looked up at runes floating right in front of his face. Runes that soon faded away, but not before showing the name of Freed Justine being crossed out along with a certain barmaid's name as well.

"Worthless, the whole lot of them." he growled out as he slowly got up, not caring that in his current state his lightning was racing all over his body. Occasionally jumping off of him and striking the nearest object and leaving behind slight burn marks. "Guess I'm going to have to do this all on my own. Which really shouldn't be too hard considering who's left for to face me." he finished with a smug grin slowly spreading over his face as he said it.

"You did always think too highly of yourself." came a voice from the front doors.

"You're one to talk." replied Laxus as his grin turned from a smug one to a determined one as he stared down his first opponent.

"And why do you say that?" asked the figure as they slowly entered the cathedral.

"Because of the entire guild saying how strong you are. That definitely has to make you wonder who's the strongest out of the two of us." answered Laxus as he rolled his shoulders in preparation of the upcoming fight.

"It doesn't since I've got better things to worry about than petty titles like you." said the figure as they continued strolling through the main aisle and towards the lightning mage.

"Well I don't and it's something that I've been dying to find out recently." stated Laxus as he and the figure both started to let their magic out. Both of them knowing that neither of them were going to hold back in this fight between them.

 **End of Chapter**

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. So it appears that I wasn't able to finish this arc up in this last chapter, which leads me to the question that I'm now going to be asking you. I was wondering if you guys wanted me to show you all of the remaining fights or should I just skip to the final showdown between Laxus and Natsu? And just so you know what some of the other fights I could possibly show you, remember that Lucy, Cana, Bisca and Erza are still out there and could easily run into Natsu or even Ikaruga for that matter. Well I guess that was the main question I wanted to ask all of you at the end here, but as always feel free to let me know what you thought about this last chapter. Or what you would like to read in the upcoming ones in either a review or PM and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.**

 **Oh and feel free to check out my profile page for other information.**

 **Until the next Chapter**

 **Digem Out!**


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